PLATO is based upon the use of short-ranged atomic like orbitals for density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The orbitals are generated by confining atoms within spheres, these orbitals are then smoothed so that the first and second derivatives go to zero at the boundary. This forms a very efficient basis set that is ideal for treating large systems within DFT. The PLATO code was written by Steven Kenny at Loughborough University and Andrew Horsfield at UCL.

PLATO has been successfully used in the description of C60 on Si (100), and the growth of CoSi2 on Si (100) as well as a number of other projects. If you are interested in the code please contact Steven Kenny .

Recent Publications
Transferable atomic-like orbital basis sets for solids, S.D. Kenny, A.P. Horsfield and H. Fujitani. Physical Review B 62 4899-4905 (2000).