Sophie Dinah Beck, Ph.D.

I'm a Flatiron Research Fellow in the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Flatiron Institute interested in strong electronic correlations and their effects on materials properties. I received my Ph.D. in Materials Science from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where I was advised by Claude Ederer. My research focuses on applying and developing computational methodologies which allow to describe the interacting many-body problem in the context of simulations of materials' properties. The insights from first-principles calculations improves our understanding of observed effects, but also allows to develop design rules for novel materials with applications in technological devices. I contribute to several open-source software projects and have an interest in data visualization and illustration. Download my CV here.

Research

Complex oxide heterostructures

Oxide heterostructures consist of atomic layers of complex transition metal oxides whose properties often differ from those of the corresponding bulk compounds. They therefore offer the opportunity to develop ''materials by design``, where electronic properties are tailored to specific applications.

WebApp FermiSee

We have recently developed a WebApp for data visualization and phenomenology of correlated electronic structure based on input obtained by Wannier90, and TRIQS. You can test FermiSee in your browser or checkout the git repo for more information and demos.

Recent paper:

In this recent publication we present a fully charge self-consistent implementation of DFT+DMFT using Quantum ESPRESSO, Wannier90, and TRIQS. The software is fully open-source and available for download on the respective websites.

Quantum physics visualization database

"We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images and establishing mental connections." - Niels Bohr
I work on a steadily growing list of visualizations for use in talks and lectures.

Selected Papers

  1. Beck S., Hampel A., Zingl M., Timm C., and Ramires A., "Effects of strain in multiorbital superconductors: The case of Sr2RuO4", Physical Review Research, 4, 023060, (2022) DOI
  2. Beck S., Hampel A., Parcollet O., Ederer C., and Georges A., "Charge self-consistent electronic structure calculations with dynamical mean-field theory using Quantum ESPRESSO, Wannier90 and TRIQS", Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 34, 345601 (2022) DOI
  3. Volpi M, Beck S., Hampel A., Galinski H., Sologubenko A., and Spolenak R., "Sensing strain-induced symmetry breaking by reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy", Applied Physics Letters, 119, 151602, (2021) DOI
  4. Beck S., and Ederer C., "Tailoring interfacial properties in CaVO3 thin films and heterostructures with SrTiO3 and LaAlO3: A DFT+DMFT study", Physical Review M, 4, 125002, (2020) DOI
  5. Petocchi F., Beck S., Ederer C., and Werner P., "Hund excitations and the efficiency of Mott solar cells", Physical Review B, 100, 075147, (2019) DOI

Software

I contribute to a number of open source software projects.

Name Description
solid_dmft Versatile python wrapper to perform DFT + DMFT calculations utilizing the TRIQS software library
FermiSee WebApp for data visualization and phenomenology of correlated electronic structure
TRIQS Toolbox for Research on Interacting Quantum Systems
Quantum ESPRESSO Open-source suite for quantum simulation of materials

Contact