About the Bilbao Crystallographic Server

Initiated in 1997, at the Materials Laboratory of the University of the Basque Country, Spain, the Bilbao Crystallographic Server has since been offering its crystallographic and solid state programs and utilities, free of charge.

Due to the variety of the topics related, the programs hosted on the server are grouped into the so called shells which are:

• Space Groups Retrieval Tools
  • GENPOS, WYCKPOS, HKLCOND, MAXSUB, SERIES, WYCKSETS, NORMALIZER, KVEC, SYMMETRY RELATIONS
• Magnetic Space Groups
  • MGENPOS, MWYCKPOS, MAGNEXT
• Group - Subgroup Relations of Space Groups
  • SUBGROUPGRAPH, HERMANN, COSETS, WYCKSPLIT, MINSUP, SUPERGROUPS, CELLSUB, CELLSUPER, NONCHAR, COMMONSUBS, COMMONSUPER, INDEX
• Representation Theory Applications
  • REPRES, DIRPRO, CORREL, POINT, SITESYM
• Solid State Theory Applications
  • SAM, NEUTRON, SYMMODES, AMPLIMODES, PSEUDO, DOPE, TRANPATH
• Structure Utilities
  • CELLTRAN, STRAIN, WPASSIGN, TRANSTRU, SETSTRU, EQUIVSTRU, VISUALIZE, COMPSTRU, STRUCTURE RELATIONS
• Subperiodic Groups: Layer, Rod and Frieze Groups Retrieval Tools
  • GENPOS, WPOS, MAXSUB
• The Bilbao Inconmensurate Crystal Structure Database (B-IncStrDB)

It should be noted that the server is under constant development with some of its tools (e.g. Magnetic Space Groups' tools) being still in beta stage. Comments and criticism of the server along with potential bug reports are always welcome to make the server better and error-free.

History

The Bilbao Crystallography Server came to life in 1997 as a scientific project by the Departments of Condensed Matter Physics and Applied Physics II of the University of the Basque Country (EHU) under the supervision of J. Manuel Perez-Mato (EHU) and Mois I. Aroyo (EHU), in coordination with Gotzon Madariaga (EHU) and Hans Wondratschek (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) with funding from the Basque government and several ministries of the Spanish government. The initial code was written by then Ph.D. students Eli Kroumova (EHU) and Svet Ivantchev (EHU) and the very first shells related to retrieval tools, group-subgroup relations and space group representations have soon appeared online.

Afterwards, in collaboration with Harold T. Stokes and Dorian M. Hatch from Brigham Young University, USA, the server extended its services to include symmetry modes analysis. Asen K. Kirov, a Ph.D. student from Sofia University, Bulgaria contributed to the server, working on programs dedicated to irreducible representations and extinction rules.

In 2001, Ph.D. student Cesar Capillas began his research on the server and became the main developer and system administrator focusing on structure relations, such as pseudosymmetry and phase transitions. Danel Orobengoa, also a Ph.D. student, joined the developer team in 2005 and worked mainly on symmetry modes, k-vector classification tables and non-characteristic orbits (in collaboration with Massimo Nespolo of the Nancy-Université, France), writing his Ph.D. thesis on the applications of the server for ferroic materials.

In 2009, Ph.D. student Gemma de la Flor and post-doc Emre S. Tasci were recruited for the development team: de la Flor working mainly on the identification and interpretation of symmetry operations, structure comparison and Tasci becoming the new system administrator and main developer, focusing in the structure relations concerning phase transitions. The Bilbao Crystallographic Server team took its current line-up in 2010 with the addition of Ph.D. student Samuel Vidal Gallego, his main research field being the magnetic space groups.

People

Active Members

• Mois I. Aroyo, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• J. Manuel Perez-Mato, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• Gotzon Madariaga, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• Emre S. Tasci, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• Gemma de la Flor, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• Samuel Vidal Gallego, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco

Former Members

• Eli Kroumova, Dpto. Física Aplicada II, Universidad del País Vasco
• Svet Ivantchev, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• Asen K. Kirov, Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Sofia
• C. Capillas, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco
• Danel Orobengoa, Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad del País Vasco

Affiliations are related to the times of the participations

Collaborators

• Hans Wondratschek, Institut für Kristallographie, Universität Karlsruhe, Germany. (Space groups and symmetry relations)
• Harold T. Stokes, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, USA. (Symmetry modes)
• Dorian M. Hatch, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, USA. (Symmetry modes)
• Massimo Nespolo, CRM², Nancy-Université, France. (Non-characteristic orbits)

Affiliations are related to the times of the participations

Usage Statistics

The server is acknowledged by researchers and scholars from all around the world. It has a monthly average of 13700 visitors generating 145000 hits (2011 stats).

Direct Academical Output

Two main events (Crystallography Online: International School on the Use and Applications of the Bilbao Crystallographic Server, 21/06 – 27/06 2009, Lekeitio/Spain and IT^On!, 31/08 - 03/09 2011, Bilbao/Spain) and many workshops on the usage of the applications on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server have been organized, bringing the international users of the server together.

Numerous articles containing work originating from the server have been published in internationally reviewed journals, as well as proceedings presented in conferences and meetings.

World Wide Web Recognition

In addition to the citations to the articles related to the server, the server has also been indexed and linked by libraries, research groups and academicians all over the world.