Q-POP-IMT: An open-source phase-field software for simulating insulator-metal transition processes in quantum materials

Insulator-metal transitions in quantum materials have important potential applications in areas such as field-effect transistors and neuromorphic computing. Here we present an initial release of the Q-POP-IMT module, an open-source phase-field software for simulating mesoscopic, nonequilibrium processes of insulator-metal transitions in quantum materials. Q-POP-IMT solves the phase-field equations of evolution that describe insulator-metal transitions at the mesoscale using the finite element method. It currently utilizes the powerful FEniCS library to define and solve finite element problems. Thanks to the finite element method, the code can address general boundary conditions such as a complex integral boundary condition corresponding to one of the most common setups in experiments and applications. We demonstrate the usage of the code through simulating the neuron-like voltage self-oscillation phenomenon in a prototypical correlated material, vanadium dioxide.