Lecture-09

Problems
1. Which one is showing the plane (221?

2. On a simple cubic lattice of spacing = 1, draw the [100], [010], [110], and [111]
directions

3. Draw the (100) and (110) planes of a body centered cubic (bcc) lattice to THE
CORRECT scale (Give dimensions). You can assume that the length of the cell is 1.

Lecture-09 IPE Dr. Ratan C. Gosh

Physics Dept. DU
 Repeat part (b) for a face centered cubic (fcc) crystal lattice for the (100), (110), and
(111) planes. FCC crystals have atoms at each corner and atoms at the center of each
face.

4. Determine the Miller indices (hkl) of the shaded planes below. Show your work on each
step to determine the plane (IE. Intercept, reciprocals, reduction, etc …)

5. For the intercepts x, y, and, z with values of 3,1, and 2 respectively, find the Miller
indices. Answer: (263)
6. Compute the Miller Indices for a plane intersecting at x= ¼, y=1, and x=1/2, Answer:
(4,1,2)
7. Graph the plane and determine the axis intersects of a surface with the Miller Index
(013).
8. Explain the meaning of {100} and it’s importance.
Answer: {100} is a short way of referring to 6 different planes. These indices all refer
to the same lattice as viewed from different points of reference defined by the axis.
1. (100) 2. (010) 3. (001) 4. (1̅00) 5. (01̅0) 6. (001̅)
9. A certain crystal has lattice parameters of 4.24, 10 and 3.66 Å on X, Y, Z axes
respectively. Determine the Miller indices of a plane having intercepts of 2.12, 10 and
1.83 Å on the X, Y and Z axes.
Solution: Lattice parameters are = 4.24, 10 and 3.66 Å
The intercepts of the given plane = 2.12, 10 and 1.83 Å
i.e. The intercepts are, 0.5, 1 and 0.5.
Step 1: The Intercepts are 1/2, 1 and 1/2.
Step 2: The reciprocals are 2, 1 and 2.
Step 3: The least common denominator is 2.
Step 4: Multiplying the lcd by each reciprocal we get, 4, 2 and 4.
Step 5: By writing them in parenthesis we get (424)

Lecture-09 IPE Dr. Ratan C. Gosh

Physics Dept. DU
 Therefore, the Miller indices of the given plane is (424) or (212).
10. Calculate the miller indices for the plane with intercepts 2a, - 3b and 4c the along the
crystallographic axes.
Solution: The intercepts are 2, - 3 and 4
Step 1: The intercepts are 2, -3 and 4 along the 3 axes
Step 2: The reciprocals are ½, -1/3, 1/4
Step 3: The least common denominator is 12.
Multiplying each reciprocal by lcd, we get 6 -4 and 3
Step 4: Hence the Miller indices for the plane is (64̅3 )
11. The lattice constant for a unit cell of Al is 4.031Å Calculate the interplanar space of
(2 1 1) plane.
Answer: d=1.6456 Å
2 (ℎ2
(Formula: 𝑑ℎ𝑘𝑙 /𝑎2 + 𝑘 2 /𝑏 2 + 𝑙 2 /𝑐 2 ) = 1)
12. Find the perpendicular distance between the two planes indicated by the Miller indices
(1 2 1) and (2 1 2) in a unit cell of a cubic lattice with a lattice constant parameter ‘a’.
Ans: d=d(121)-d(212) = a/√6-a/3=0.0749a
13. What is the distance between the adjacent Miller planes if the first order reflection from
X-rays of wavelength 2.29 Å occurs at 2708'?
Solution: nλ= 2d sinθ, n =1, λ= 2.29 A, = 2708' d = 0.5*1*2.29 *10-8 / sin (2708') = 1.26
A
14. (a) Consider the two following planes that cut the crystallographic axes as indicated.
Plane 1 cuts the axes at a / 3, b / 2 and c /4 and plane 2 cuts the axes at a / 2, b /3 and
c/4. What are the Miller indices of these planes?
(b) Draw the planes for which the Miller indices are (112), (200), (120) and (221)
15. What are the unit cells for the NaCl and the CsCl structures? How many atoms are
there in these unit cells?
Ans: NaCl: Each unit cell contains two Na and two Cl atoms.
CsCl: Each unit cell contains one Cs and one Cl atom.
16. The edge length of the Ag FCC structure is 408.6 pm An X-ray beam produces a strong
interference (intense reflection) from the 111 planes at θ=38.20. What is the X- ray
wavelength? [Calculate d (inter-atomic distance)]
17. The X-rays of wavelength 154.2 pm produce reflections from the 200 planes and the
111 plane of Cu which has FCC structure and density of 8.935 g/cm3. At what angles
will the diffracted intensity be maximum? [Hints: nλ=2d sinθ, 1/d2 = h2/a2 + k2/b2 +
l2/c2, a=b=c]
18. The molecular weight of NaCl (FCC structure) is 58.448 g/mol and its density 2.165
g/cm3. What is the edge length of a cube that contains one mole of NaCl? How many
sodium and chloride ions lie along this edge if the distance between the nearest
neighbour ions is 2.819 A? Calculate the Avogadro number using the information given
above.
𝑛 𝑁𝜌
[Hints: a=2x2.819 A, n=4, Calculate N using 𝑎3 = 𝐴 ]
19. From the face of a FCC lattice of NaCl, the Bragg diffraction from X-rays of 0.0586
nm wavelength occurs at an angle of 5 58'. What is the distance separating these planes
and what is the smallest distance between Na+ and Cl - and Cl - and Cl -? Study the NaCl
structure closely for a clear picture of the problem.

Lecture-09 IPE Dr. Ratan C. Gosh

Physics Dept. DU
 20. The lattice parameter of the FCC silver unit cell is 408.6 pm. An X-ray beam produces
a strong reflection from the 111plane at angle 2θ=38.2 . What is the wavelength of the
X-ray?
21. X-rays with = 154.2 pm produce reflections from the 110 and 200 planes of FCC Cu of
density 8.935 g / cm3. At what angles will these reflections appear?
22. X- rays of wavelength=179 pm produce a reflection at θ=47.20 from the 110 planes of
BCC lattice. Calculate the edge length of the unit cell.
23. If a = b = c = 8 Å, find d-spacings for planes with Miller indices (123) Calculate the d-
spacings for the same planes in a crystal with unit cell a = b = 7 Å, c = 9 Å. Calculate
the d-spacings for the same planes in a crystal with unit cell a=7 Å, b=8 Å, c=9 Å. (1
Å = 1x10-10m)
24. X-rays with wavelength 1.54 Å are “reflected” from the (110) planes of a cubic crystal
with unit cell a=6 Å. Calculate the Bragg angle, θ, for all orders of reflection, n.
25. X-rays of wavelength λ=1.5Å are reflected from the (222) planes of a cubic crystal with
unit cell a=5Å. Calculate the Bragg angle, θ, for n=1.
26. The cubic crystal in the previous question is replaced with a tetragonal crystal, unit cell
a = 4.5Å, c = 6Å. Calculate the Bragg angle, 2θ for the (222) reflection.
27. An orthorhombic crystal is now studied. What is the Bragg angle (2θ) for the 222
reflections if a = 3Å, b= 3.5Å and c = 8Å [Hints: (hkl)=(222) [1/d2 = h2/a2 + k2/b2 +
l2/c2, nλ=2d sinθ , n=1 and λ=1.54Å]
28. At 278 K, iron (Fe=56 g/mol) is found to show bcc structure with a lattice parameter of
0.2866 nm. Obtain the density of iron from this information. Answer: 7.88 ×106 g/m3
29. The atomic weight per 1 mol of copper (Cu) with face-centered cubic (FCC) structure
and the density at 298 K are 63.54 g and 8:89x106 g/m3, respectively. Estimate the
𝑛 𝑁𝜌
nearest-neighbour distance of Cu atoms. Formula [𝑎3 = 𝐴 ]
Answer: 0.362 nm
1 1 3 1 1
30. What are the Miller indices for a vector that passes from point 4 0 to point 4 in a
2 2 2
cubic unit cell?
31. Determine the Miller indices for the directions of A, B, C and D shown in the following
cubic unit cell.

32. Write down algorithm for crystallographic direction and hence draw a [11̅0] direction
with its tail located at the origin within a cubic unit cell.

Lecture-09 IPE Dr. Ratan C. Gosh

Physics Dept. DU
Sample Questions:
1. Write down the d-spacing formula for orthogonal crystals.
2. How does this simplify for tetragonal and cubic symmetry?
3. What is the minimum value of a (in an optical grating) for first order diffraction to be
observed?
4. What happens when a << λ? What happens when a >> λ? 5. What are the wavelength
requirements for diffraction by a crystal lattice?
6. State Bragg’s Law and explain the terms.
7. Explain why, in practice, n is set to 1 in the Bragg equation.

Lecture-09 IPE Dr. Ratan C. Gosh

Physics Dept. DU