CMPZ -: an algorithm for the efficient comparison of periodic structures

The systematic comparison of the atomic structure of solid compounds has become an important task in crystallography, chemistry, physics and materials science, in particular in the context of structure prediction and structure determination of crystalline solids. In this work, an efficient and robust algorithm for the comparison of periodic structures is presented, which is based on the mapping of the point patterns of the two structures into each other. This algorithm has been implemented as the module CMPZ in the structure visualization and analysis program KPLOT.