  We study the inverse problem of tuning interaction parameters between charged
colloidal particles interacting with a hard-core repulsive Yukawa potential, so
that they assemble into specified crystal structures. Here, we target the
body-centered-cubic (bcc) structure which is only stable in a small region in
the phase diagram of charged colloids and is, therefore, challenging to find.
In order to achieve this goal, we use the statistical fluctuations in the bond
orientational order parameters to tune the interaction parameters for the bcc
structure, while initializing the system in the fluid phase, using the
Statistical Physics-inspired Inverse Design (SP-ID) algorithm [1]. We also find
that this optimization algorithm correctly senses the fluid-solid phase
boundaries for charged colloids. Finally, we repeat the procedure employing the
Covariance Matrix Adaptation - Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES), a cutting edge
optimization technique, and compare the relative efficacy of the two methods.
