A Web Laboratory for Visual Interactive Simulation of Epitaxial Growth Feng Liu University of Utah Recently, we have developed a prototype of web laboratory for visual interactive simulation of epitaxial growth of nanostructures on surface. An on-line ‘DEMO” is available at Center for Computational Design and Testing of Novel Materials, directed by Professor Feng Liu at the University of Utah: The virtual laboratory is built by integrating web interface programs with materials modeling/simulation codes to provide an on-line interactive environment for computational research and education. It provides an open resource for real-time modeling and simulation. Users can access the laboratory freely anytime anywhere, to learn the basic concepts and principles of nanostructure formation on surface and to conduct simple computational experiments on self-assembly and self- organization of nanostructured thin-film materials. It will also provide an invaluable teaching tool to complement courses in nanotechnology as well as in materials modeling and simulation. The architecture of the web laboratory and an example of application is shown in Fig. 1 and 2, respectively. This project is partly supported by NSF Condensed Matter and Materials Theory Program (DMR ).

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the architecture of the web laboratory. It consists of a client-side interface program, a web server, a server-side interface program, an archive of simulation programs, and a database server. The client-side interface works as a gateway for users to log in, manage accounts, upload input files, submit jobs, run simulations, monitor the simulation process, view results in 2D and 3D graphics, and download reports. The server-side interface will perform account management, pass client-side messages to simulation programs or database server, activate simulation programs, process simulation results, prepare reports, and pass messages from simulation programs or database server back to client-side interface. An archive of modeling and simulation programs for epitaxial growth of nanostructures on surface will be developed and installed. user interface clusters

Fig. 2. (a) Control window displaying the parameter input fields for step-flow growth simulation. (b) Display window showing the real-time graphic output of a step-flow growth simulation, illustrating the self-organized step-bunch template for growth of quantum wire arrays. A DEMO of such simulation is available at (a) (b)