Publications

** You can find the full list of my publications on my Google Scholar profile. **

Highlights

Quantum Davidson algorithm for excited states

Excited state properties play a pivotal role in various chemical and physical phenomena, such as charge separation and light emission. However, the primary focus of most existing quantum algorithms has been the ground state. In this work, we present an economic quantum Davidson algorithm (QDavidson) that utilizes iterative expansion of the Krylov subspace and a pre-conditioner within the Davidson framework. By using the residues of eigenstates to expand the Krylov subspace, we manage to formulate a compact subspace that aligns closely with the exact solutions.

N. Tkachenko, L. Cincio, A. I. Boldyrev, S. Tretiak, P. Dub and Y. Zhang*

Quantum Sci. Technol. 9, 035012, (2024).

Diffusion quantum Monte Carlo approach to the polaritonic ground state

In this work, we explore the formally exact diffusion quantum Monte Carlo approach to obtain numerical solutions to the polaritonic ground state during the dissociation of the $H_2$ molecular system. We examine various electron-nuclear-photon properties throughout the dissociation, such as changes to the minimum of the cavity Born-Oppenheimer surface, the localization of the electronic wave function, and the average mode occupation. Finally, we directly compare our results to that obtained with state-of-the-art, yet approximate, polaritonic coupled cluster approaches.

B. M. Weight, S. Tretiak, and Y. Zhang*

Phys. Rev. A 109, 032804 (2024)

First-principles molecular quantum electrodynamics theory at all coupling strengths

In this work, we developed a variational transformation-based molecular quantum electrodynamics mean-field method, namely VT-QEDHF, for light-matter interaction at arbitrary coupling strength. The numerical benchmark demonstrates that the VT-QEDHF method naturally connects both QEDHF and self-consistent QEDHF methods at the two limits, showcasing the advantage of VT-QEHDF across all coupling strengths.

X. Li, and Y. Zhang*

arXiv:2310.18228

Plasmon mediated coherent population oscillations in molecular aggregates

By utilizing ultrafast two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to probe the quantum dynamics of J-aggregate excitons collectively coupled to the spatially structured plasmonic fields of a gold nanoslit array, we observe rich coherent Rabi oscillation dynamics reflecting a plasmon-driven coherent exciton population transfer over mesoscopic distances at room temperature. This opens up new opportunities to manipulate the coherent transport of matter excitations by coupling to vacuum fields.

D. Timmer, M. Gittinger, T. Quenzel, S. Stephan, Y. Zhang, M. F. Schumacher, A. Lützen, M. Silies, S. Tretiak, J. Zhong, A. De Sio and C. Lienau*

Nat Commun 14, 8035 (2023).

Machine Learning Framework for Modeling Exciton Polaritons in Molecular Materials

Polariton chemistry is a collective phenomenon, and its effects increase with the number of molecules in a cavity. However, simulating an ensemble of molecules in the excited state coupled to a cavity mode is theoretically and computationally challenging. This work presents a general protocol to predict excited-state properties, such as energies, transition dipoles, and nonadiabatic coupling vectors with the hierarchically interacting particle neural network. ML predictions are then applied to compute the potential energy surfaces and electronic spectra of a prototype azomethane molecule in the collective coupling scenario. These computational tools provide a much-needed framework to model and understand many molecules’ emerging excited-state polariton chemistry.

Xinyang Li, Nicholas Lubbers, Sergei Tretiak, Kipton Barros*, and Yu Zhang*

J. Chem. Theory Comput. 20, 891 (2024).

Quantum Simulation of Molecular Response Properties in the NISQ Era

In this work, we develop a quantum linear response (qLR) theory to calculate molecular response properties on near-term quantum computers. Inspired by the recently developed variants of the quantum counterpart of equation of motion (qEOM) theory, the qLR formalism employs “killer condition” satisfying excitation operator manifolds that offer a number of theoretical advantages along with reduced quantum resource requirements. We also used the qEOM framework in this work to calculate the state-specific response properties.

A. Kumar*, A. Asthana, V. Abraham, T. D. Crawford, N. J. Mayhall, Y. Zhang*, L. Cincio, S. Tretiak, and P. A. Dub*

J. Chem. Theory Comput. 19, 9316 (2023).

Shadow Molecular Dynamics and Atomic Cluster Expansions for Flexible Charge Models

This work presents a shadow molecular dynamics scheme for flexible charge models where the shadow Born–Oppenheimer potential is derived from a coarse-grained approximation of range-separated density functional theory.

J. Goff*, Y. Zhang, C. Negre, A. Rohskopf, and A. M. N. Niklasson*

J. Chem. Theory Comput. 19, 4255 (2023).

Theory and modeling of light-matter interactions in chemistry: current and future

This perspective starts with the basic background of light-matter interactions, molecular quantum electrodynamics theory, and the challenges of modeling light-matter interactions in chemistry. Then, the recent advances in modeling plasmon and polariton chemistry are described, and future directions toward multiscale simulations of light–matter interaction-mediated chemistry are discussed.

B. M. Weight, X. Li, Y. Zhang*

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 25, 31554 (2023).

Molecular dynamics study of plasmon-mediated chemical transformations

Our simulations provide important dynamical and atomistic insights into plasmon-mediated chemical transformations from the perspective of non-adiabatic simulations.

X. Wu, T van der Heide, S. Wen, T. Frauenheim, S. Tretiak, C. Yam, Y. Zhang*

Chem. Sci., 14, 4714 (2023).

Quantum Simulation of Molecular Electronic States with a Transcorrelated Hamiltonian: Higher Accuracy with Fewer Qubits

Simulation of electronic structure is one of the most promising applications on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era devices. However, NISQ devices suffer from a number of challenges like limited qubit connectivity, short coherence times, and sizable gate error rates. Thus, desired quantum algorithms should require shallow circuit depths and low qubit counts to take advantage of these devices. Here, we attempt to reduce quantum resource requirements for molecular simulations on a quantum computer while maintaining the desired accuracy with the help of classical quantum chemical theories of canonical transformation and explicit correlation

A. Kumar, A. Asthana, C. Masteran, E. F. Valeev*, Y. Zhang*, L. Cincio, S. Tretiak, and P. A. Dub*

J. Chem. Theory Comput. 18, 5312 (2022).

Variational quantum eigensolver with reduced circuit complexity

This work presents a quantum parallel algorithm (ClusterVQE) that allows exact simulation of the problem by using fewer qubits and shallower circuit depth at the cost of additional classical resources, making it a potential leader for quantum chemistry simulations on NISQ.

Y. Zhang*, L. Cincio, C. FA Negre, P. Czarnik, P. J Coles, P. M Anisimov, S. M Mniszewski, S. Tretiak, P. A Dub

npj Quantum Inf 8, 96 (2022).

Theory of Plasmonic Hot-Carrier Generation and Relaxation

Hot-carrier (HC) generation from (localized) surface plasmon decay has recently attracted much attention due to its promising applications in physical, chemical, materials, and energy science. However, the detailed mechanisms of plasmonic HC generation, relaxation, and trapping are less studied. In this work, we developed and applied a quantum-mechanical model and coupled master equation method to study the generation of HCs from plasmon decay and their following relaxation processes with different mechanisms treated on equal footing.

Y. Zhang*

J. Phys. Chem. A 125, 9201 (2021).

Correlation-Informed Permutation of Qubits for Reducing Ansatz Depth in the Variational Quantum Eigensolver

A Variational Quantum Eigensolver, namely PermVQE, that permutes qubits in order to solve for the qubit Hamiltonian that maximally localizes correlations in the ground state.

N. V. Tkachenko, J. Sud, Y. Zhang*, S. Tretiak, P. M. Anisimov, A. T. Arrasmith, P. J. Coles, L. Cincio*, and P. A. Dub*

PRX Quantum 2, 020337 (2021).

Mechanistic Insights into Photocatalyzed H2 Dissociation on Au Clusters

A comprehensive physical picture of photoinduced H2 dissociation on Au clusters.

Q. Wu, L. Zhou, G. C. Schatz, Y. Zhang*, and H. Guo*.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 13090 (2020).

Plasmonic Hot-Carrier-Mediated Tunable Photochemical Reactions

An atomic-scale mechanism of a plasmonic hot-carrier-mediated chemical process, H2 dissociation.

Y. Zhang*, T. Nelson, S. Tretiak, and G. C. Schatz.

ACS Nano, 12, 8415 (2018)