Unit cell

Example of the BCC unit cell.

The unit cell is the basic building block of a crystal lattice (whether an atomic crystal or a nanoscale superlattice). Crystalline materials have a periodic structure, with the unit cell being the minimal volume necessary to fully describe the repeating structure. There are a finite number of possible symmetries for the repeating unit cell.

A unit cell can be defined by three vectors that lie along the edges of the enclosing parallelepped. We denote the vectors as $\mathbf {a}$, $\mathbf {b}$, and $\mathbf {c}$; alternately the unit cell can be described by the lengths of these vectors ($a$, $b$, $c$), and the angles between them:

$\alpha$, the angle between $b$ and $c$

$\beta$, the angle between $a$ and $c$

$\gamma$, the angle between $a$ and $b$

Mathematical description

Vectors

${\begin{array}{l}\mathbf {a} ={\begin{bmatrix}a\\0\\0\end{bmatrix}}\\\mathbf {b} ={\begin{bmatrix}b\cos {\gamma }\\b\sin {\gamma }\\0\end{bmatrix}}\\\mathbf {c} ={\begin{bmatrix}c\sin {\theta _{c}}\cos {\phi _{c}}\\c\sin {\theta _{c}}\sin {\phi _{c}}\\c\cos {\theta _{c}}\end{bmatrix}}={\begin{bmatrix}c\cos {\beta }\\c{\frac {\cos {\alpha }-\cos {\beta }\cos {\gamma }}{\sin {\gamma }}}\\c{\sqrt {1-\cos ^{2}{\beta }-\left({\frac {\cos {\alpha }-\cos {\beta }\cos {\gamma }}{\sin {\gamma }}}\right)^{2}}}\end{bmatrix}}\end{array}}$

Relations

$\mathbf {a} \cdot \mathbf {b} =ab\cos {\gamma }$

$\mathbf {a} \cdot \mathbf {c} =ac\cos {\beta }$

$\mathbf {b} \cdot \mathbf {c} =bc\cos {\alpha }$

Volume

$V=|\mathbf {a} \cdot (\mathbf {b} \times \mathbf {c} )|=|\mathbf {b} \cdot (\mathbf {c} \times \mathbf {a} )|=|\mathbf {c} \cdot (\mathbf {a} \times \mathbf {b} )|$

If a, b, and c are the parallelepiped edge lengths, and α, β, and γ are the internal angles between the edges, the volume is

$V=abc{\sqrt {1+2\cos(\alpha )\cos(\beta )\cos(\gamma )-\cos ^{2}(\alpha )-\cos ^{2}(\beta )-\cos ^{2}(\gamma )}}.$

The volume of a unit cell with all edge-length equal to unity is:

$v={\sqrt {1-\cos ^{2}(\alpha )-\cos ^{2}(\beta )-\cos ^{2}(\gamma )+2\cos(\alpha )\cos(\beta )\cos(\gamma )}}$

Angles

• $\gamma$ is the angle between $\mathbf {a}$ and $\mathbf {b}$
• $\beta$ is the angle between $\mathbf {a}$ and $\mathbf {c}$
• $\alpha$ is the angle between $\mathbf {b}$ and $\mathbf {c}$

Unit cell definition using parallelepiped with lengths a, b, c and angles between the sides given by α,β,γ (from Wikipedia fractional coordinates).

Reciprocal vectors

The repeating structure of a unit cell creates peaks in reciprocal space. In particular, we observe maxima (constructive interference) when:

${\begin{alignedat}{2}\mathbf {q} \cdot \mathbf {a} &=2\pi h\\\mathbf {q} \cdot \mathbf {b} &=2\pi k\\\mathbf {q} \cdot \mathbf {c} &=2\pi l\\\end{alignedat}}$

Where $h$, $k$, and $l$ are integers. We define reciprocal-space vectors:

${\begin{alignedat}{2}\mathbf {u} &={\frac {\mathbf {b} \times \mathbf {c} }{\mathbf {a} \cdot (\mathbf {b} \times \mathbf {c} )}}={\frac {1}{V}}\mathbf {b} \times \mathbf {c} \\\mathbf {v} &={\frac {\mathbf {c} \times \mathbf {a} }{\mathbf {a} \cdot (\mathbf {b} \times \mathbf {c} )}}={\frac {1}{V}}\mathbf {c} \times \mathbf {a} \\\mathbf {w} &={\frac {\mathbf {a} \times \mathbf {b} }{\mathbf {a} \cdot (\mathbf {b} \times \mathbf {c} )}}={\frac {1}{V}}\mathbf {a} \times \mathbf {b} \\\end{alignedat}}$

And we can then express the momentum transfer ($\mathbf {q}$) in terms of these reciprocal vectors:

${\begin{alignedat}{2}\mathbf {q} &=(\mathbf {q} \cdot \mathbf {a} )\mathbf {u} +(\mathbf {q} \cdot \mathbf {b} )\mathbf {v} +(\mathbf {q} \cdot \mathbf {c} )\mathbf {w} \end{alignedat}}$

Combining with the three Laue equations yields:

${\begin{alignedat}{2}\mathbf {q} _{hkl}&=(2\pi h)\mathbf {u} +(2\pi k)\mathbf {v} +(2\pi l)\mathbf {w} \\&=2\pi (h\mathbf {u} +k\mathbf {v} +l\mathbf {w} )\\&=2\pi \mathbf {H} _{hkl}\end{alignedat}}$

Where $\mathbf {H} _{hkl}$ is a vector that defines the position of Bragg reflection $hkl$ for the reciprocal-lattice.

Examples

Cubic

Since $\alpha =\beta =\gamma =90^{\circ }$, $V=abc$, and:

${\begin{alignedat}{2}\mathbf {a} &={\begin{bmatrix}a\\0\\0\end{bmatrix}}\\\mathbf {b} &={\begin{bmatrix}0\\b\\0\end{bmatrix}}\\\mathbf {c} &={\begin{bmatrix}0\\0\\c\end{bmatrix}}\\\end{alignedat}}$

And in reciprocal-space:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{alignat}{2} \mathbf{u} & =\frac{1}{V} \mathbf{b}\times\mathbf{c} & =\frac{1}{V} \begin{bmatrix} b c \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} & = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{1}{a} \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \mathbf{v} & =\frac{1}{V} \mathbf{c}\times\mathbf{a} & =\frac{1}{V} \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ a c \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} & = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ \frac{1}{b} \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \mathbf{w} & =\frac{1}{V} \mathbf{a}\times\mathbf{b} & =\frac{1}{V} \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ a b \end{bmatrix} & = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ \frac{1}{c} \end{bmatrix}\\ \end{alignat} }

So:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{alignat}{2} \mathbf{q}_{hkl} & = (2 \pi h)\mathbf{u} + (2 \pi k)\mathbf{v} + (2 \pi l)\mathbf{w} \\ & = (2 \pi h)\begin{bmatrix} \frac{1}{a} \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} + (2 \pi k)\begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ \frac{1}{b} \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} + (2 \pi l)\begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ \frac{1}{c} \end{bmatrix} \\ & = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{2 \pi h}{a} \\ \frac{2 \pi k}{b} \\ \frac{2 \pi l}{c} \end{bmatrix} \end{alignat} }

And:

$q_{hkl}=2\pi {\sqrt {\left({\frac {h}{a}}\right)^{2}+\left({\frac {k}{b}}\right)^{2}+\left({\frac {l}{c}}\right)^{2}}}$

Hexagonal

Since $\alpha =\beta =90^{\circ }$ and $\gamma =60^{\circ }$, Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle V=\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}abc} , and:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{alignat}{2} \mathbf{a} & = \begin{bmatrix} a \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} \\ \mathbf{b} & = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{1}{2}b \\ \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} b \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} \\ \mathbf{c} & = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ c \end{bmatrix} \\ \end{alignat} }

And in reciprocal-space:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{alignat}{2} \mathbf{u} & =\frac{1}{V} \mathbf{b}\times\mathbf{c} & =\frac{1}{V} \begin{bmatrix} \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} b c \\ -\frac{1}{2} b c \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} & = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{1}{a} \\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}a} \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \mathbf{v} & =\frac{1}{V} \mathbf{c}\times\mathbf{a} & =\frac{1}{V} \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ a c \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} & = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}b} \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \mathbf{w} & =\frac{1}{V} \mathbf{a}\times\mathbf{b} & =\frac{1}{V} \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} a b \end{bmatrix} & = \begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ \frac{1}{c} \end{bmatrix}\\ \end{alignat} }

So:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{alignat}{2} \mathbf{q}_{hkl} & = (2 \pi h)\mathbf{u} + (2 \pi k)\mathbf{v} + (2 \pi l)\mathbf{w} \\ & = (2 \pi h)\begin{bmatrix} \frac{1}{a} \\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}a} \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} + (2 \pi k)\begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}b} \\ 0 \end{bmatrix} + (2 \pi l)\begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ \frac{1}{c} \end{bmatrix} \\ & = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{2 \pi h}{a} \\ \frac{2 \pi h}{\sqrt{3}a} + \frac{4 \pi k}{\sqrt{3}b} \\ \frac{2 \pi l}{c} \end{bmatrix} \\ & = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{2 \pi h}{a} \\ \frac{2 \pi (h + 2 k)}{\sqrt{3}a} \\ \frac{2 \pi l}{c} \end{bmatrix} \end{alignat} }

See Also

• Lattices
• K. N. Trueblood, H.-B. Bürgi, H. Burzlaff, J. D. Dunitz, C. M. Gramaccioli, H. H. Schulz, U. Shmueli and S. C. Abrahams Atomic Dispacement Parameter Nomenclature. Report of a Subcommittee on Atomic Displacement Parameter Nomenclature Acta Cryst 1996, A52, 770-781. doi: 10.1107/S0108767396005697