AFLOW-SYM: platform for the complete, automatic and self-consistent symmetry analysis of crystals

Abstract

Determination of the symmetry profile of structures is a persistent challenge in materials science. Results often vary amongst standard packages, hindering autonomous materials development by requiring continuous user attention and educated guesses. This article presents a robust procedure for evaluating the complete suite of symmetry properties, featuring various representations for the point, factor and space groups, site symmetries and Wyckoff positions. The protocol determines a system-specific mapping tolerance that yields symmetry operations entirely commensurate with fundamental crystallographic principles. The self-consistent tolerance characterizes the effective spatial resolution of the reported atomic positions. The approach is compared with the most used programs and is successfully validated against the space-group information provided for over 54 000 entries in the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD). Subsequently, a complete symmetry analysis is applied to all 1.7+ million entries of theAFLOWdata repository. TheAFLOW-SYMpackage has been implemented in, and made available for, public use through the automatedab initioframeworkAFLOW.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 01, 2018
Source ID
10.1107/s2053273318003066

Entities

People

  • Corey Oses
  • Cormac Toher
  • David Hicks
  • Eric Gossett
  • Geena Gomez
  • Michael J. Mehl
  • Ohad Levy
  • Richard H. Taylor
  • Stefano Curtarolo

Organizations

  • Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research

Tags

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Quantum Chemistry
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space