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Physics7440Solutions5

Showthatthereciprocallatticeofthebccdirectlatticeisanfcc
lattice.
RecallthatthedefinitionoftheReciprocalLatticeVectorsis:

Isetupthreedirectlatticevectors:

Atthispoint,generatingtheRLVsisjustamatterofgrindingoutthevectorequations.Theeasiestis
forthethirdoftheRLVs.Itlookslikethis:

Theothertwovectorscomeouttobe:

ThisparticularsetofRLVsisnotparticularlysymmetric.However,weknowthattheRLVsarenon
unique(justlikethedirectlatticevectors).Eveniftheyareabitmessy,theyshouldallowusto
constructalattice.Inthefollowingfigure,IvedrawnthethreeRLVsandincludedseveralpointsfor
afacecenteredcubiclatticesothatyoucanconvinceyourselfthatthethreeRLVsreallycouldbe
usedtoreachanyofthesepoints(andofcourse,alltherestofthelattice).Hereiswhattheylooklike:

Iemphasizethattheparticularsetofdirectlatticevectorsthatyou
startwithwilldetermineadifferentsetofRLVs,butthepointisto
determinewhatthelatticeactuallylookslike.Thevectors(bothdirect
andreciprocal)arenonunique,butthelatticeisnot.
Inthisparticularcase,youcanseethatthereciprocallatticeisjusta
facecenteredcubiclattice.
Thefcctobcccaseisquitesimilarandisalsoimpliedalreadybythe
calculationaboveasthereciprocallatticeofthereciprocallatticeisjusttheoriginalbravislattice.
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b)Next,youareaskedforthereciprocallatticevectorsofsmallestmagnitudeforaluminum(fcc
lattice),berylium(hcplattice)andbcciron.Thesethreeelementsrepresentthethreemost
commoncrystalstructure,soyougetexercisewithallthree.
Aluminum:Thefcclatticewithconventionalcubiccellofside,a,hasabccreciprocallatticeof
conventionalcubiccell(inkspace)ofside4p/a.Therefore,theshortestreciprocallatticevector
wouldbefromthecornertothecenterposition,(4p/a)(1/2,1/2,1/2)withatotallengthofside(see
Marderexampleonpage51)
.Foraluminum,theatomicspacinghasa=4.05angstroms
(MarderTable2.1).Thus,theshortestRLVisroughly27inversenanometers.ThisshortestRLV
pointsalongthebodydiagonalofthecube,andthereforehasequalx,y,andzcomponents.The
Millerindicesare(111).
Beryllium:Thehcplatticeiscomposedofasimplehexagonallattice,withatwoatombasis.Never
theless,thereciprocallatticeisjustanothersimplehexagonallattice,rotated30degreestothedirect
lattice.TheshortestRLVsareassociatedwiththetriangularplanedirections.Assumingaspacing
betweenpointsinthetrianglesofa,andspacingbetweensheetsofc,thenthetriangulararrayink
spacehasspacingof(seebelow)
and
respectively.Therefore,theshortestreciprocal
latticevectorcouldbeeitherinthetriangularplane,orperpendiculartothetriangularplane,
dependingupontheactualvaluesofaandcforthedirectlattice.InthecaseofBe,wehavea=2.29
angstromsandc=3.58angstroms.Therefore,theshortestRLVisinthecdirection:17.6inverse
nanometers.Millerindicesare(001).
Iron:Thebcclatticewithconventionalcubiccellofside,a,hasanfccreciprocallatticeof
conventionalcubiccell(inkspace)ofside4p/a.Therefore,theshortestreciprocallatticevector
wouldbefromthecornertothefacecenterposition(anyfacewilldo)e.g.,(4p/a)(1/2,1/2,0)witha
totallengthofside
.Foriron,theatomicspacinghasa=3.59angstroms.Thus,theshortest
RLVisroughly24.8inversenanometers.Millerindicesare(110).

4.Marder3.2
OK,forthesimplehexagonal,let'sjustgruntouttheRLVs.Iwillassumeasheetoftriangularly
coordinatedpointsinthexyplane,withonepointattheorigin,andpointslocatedalongthexaxis.
Then,asetofdirectlatticevectorswouldbe:

ThereciprocallatticevectorsarethengivenbyplowingthroughMarder'sequation3.24.Let'spress
onwiththefirstreciprocallatticevector:

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Physics7440Solutions5

Ugly...Next,dothesecondvector:

Ah!Thisresultlookssimpler.Itshowsthatwedohaveatriangularlatticeinthexyplaneofkspace,
thatthecharacteristicspacingisasabove,andthatoneofthedirectionsisalongtheyaxis.Inother
words,thedirectionofthesecondreciprocallatticevectoris90degreestothexaxisand30degrees
beyondtheseconddirectlatticevector.
Finally,thethirdRLVis:

OK,nowthatweknowtheRLVsforthehexagonallattice,wearereadytoconsiderthehexagonal
closepacked(hcp)case.Forhcp,weneedalatticewithabasis.Thelatticeishexagonal.Thebasisis
atwoatombasis,withatomsat(seeMarder'sequations2.5aandb)positions

and

.Fromthexraydiscussion,weknowthattheoverallstructurefactorisasumof
atomicformfactors,eachweightedbyanexponentialphasefactorappropriateforthelocationinthe
unitcell.Inthiscase,theatomicformfactorsareidentical,sowefactorthemout,leavingjustthe
sumoftwoexponentials.Therefore,thestructurefactorisproportionalto:

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