Contributed talk

Speaker: Rachel Neville (Northern Arizona University)

Location and Time: SAS 201A, Saturday, 1:45–2:15 PM

Title: Topological Techniques for Studying Nanopatterns

Abstract: When a compound is bombarded with an ion beam, complex spatial-temporal nanopatterns can arise. These patterns can be difficult to characterize quantitatively. We describe how persistent homology can be used to provide a low-dimensional quantitative summary of topological structure of these complex patterns. These summaries retain a remarkable amount of information that, when coupled with machine learning techniques, allows for the investigation of the influence of nonlinear parameters, classification of data by parameters, and study of defect evolution. We will explore several different ion bombardment systems, the patterns that arise, and how topological techniques can help us probe and better understand the system.