Pre-defined file format for a materials database that contains thermophysical properties of common materials

[AvonReppert]

It would be really great if there was a possibility to store thermophysical parameters of different common (Au, Pt, Ni, Cu, Fe, ... ) or less common (YIG, DSO, SRO, Dy, Ho, Y, FePt, Nb, ...) materialsin a kind of database. For that it would be good if a common format that is automatically read by the toolbox would be established

In the udkm group in Potsdam we frequently use this toolbox or the previous Matlab version for modelling the strain response of laser-excited heterostructures. It often takes time to research approriate values for heat capacities, sound velocities, electron-phonon couplings, sommerfeld constants from appropriate literature references. Therefore we provide the modelling parameters within our publications or thesis works. However, but it would be even better to be able to put them into a kind of .xml file or other suitable format that could be uploaded to this project and thus be archived for future use. This would facilitate knowledge transfer and facilitate "quick" simulations of different sample structures.

This is an enhancement request rather than an issue. But before we make up our own way of storing and loading material parameters I would like to hear your thougths on how this could be implemented.

[dschick]

Hi @AleksUDKM,

This is a brilliant idea, and guess what, we already had the same ;)
https://github.com/MBI-DIv-B/materialdatabase

We got stuck with the implementation for now, but we spent already quite some time on the data format.
So you are very welcome to contribute.

The problem with such a database, is somehow the competetion with commercial products, e.g. by SpringerNature.
But as far as I know, it is rather though to find a database for ultrafast dynamics paramters.
So maybe we can really fill a niche here.

In general, I would like to keep the database separate from the udkm1Dsim but of course we are thinking of an user-friendly interface.
Similary, we were thinking or reanimate the option to save/load sample structures from file, e.g. xml.

A lot of work to do and honestly not much backing, so it makes only sense, if we would reach some critical mass with it.