CRYSTAL: a computational tool for the ab initio study of the electronic properties of crystals

CRYSTAL [1] computes the electronic structure and properties of periodic systems (crystals, surfaces, polymers) within Hartree-Fock [2], Density Functional and various hybrid approximations. CRYSTAL was developed during nearly 30 years (since 1976) [3] by researchers of the Theoretical Chemistry Group in Torino (Italy), and the Computational Materials Science group in CLRC (Daresbury, UK), with important contributions from visiting researchers, as documented by the main authors list and the bibliography. The basic features of the program CRYSTAL are presented, with two examples of application in the field of crystallography [4, 5].