Crystal Systems

Two dimensional lattice symmetry:

There are unlimited number of possible lattices because there is no natural limitation on the lengths
of the lattice translation vectors or no the angle of between them.
Symmetry refers to certain pattern or arrangement. A body is symmetrical when it is reproduced by
certain operation.
 The symmetry word (somewhat distorted) itself shows 2-fold rotation symmetry (restored by
180 rotation).
 In the picture below the plane looks identical after a 90 rotation. The plane has 4 fold
rotation symmetry as it repeats itself 4 times (shown by the red dot) in a full 360 rotation.

Types of Symmetry Operation

1. Translation
2. Rotation
3. Reflection
4. Inversion

Translation
The first point is repeated at equal distances along a line by a translation uT, where T is the
translation vector and u is an integer.

Translation on a point with coordinates xyz  x+a y+b z+c where, a, b and c are the unit vectors in
x, y and z directions respectively.

Rotation
A rotation can be applied on the translation vector T in all directions, clock or anti-clock wise,
through equal angles  in the 2D space.

If two rotation operations, one each in clock and anti-clock direction, are applied on the translation
vector T, it will create two more lattice points. Because of the regular pattern, the translation
between these two points will be some multiple of T (pT).
An n-fold rotation symmetry means rotation through an angle of 2/n will repeat the object or motif
n times in a full 360 rotation. n =1 means no symmetry.
Bravais Lattice

Bravais lattice is a common phrase for a distinct lattice type. In a Bravais lattice, all lattice points
are equivalent and hence by necessity all atoms in the crystal are of the same kind.

There are five distinct types (Bravais) of lattice symmetry in two dimensions such as:
(i) Oblique (a b, ) (ii) Square (a = b, ), (iii) Hexagonal (a = b, ) (iv)
Rectangular (a b, ) (v) Centered rectangular (a b, ). Of these (i)  general, (ii) to
(v)  special types.

Th
e five fundamental two-dimensional Bravais lattices: 1 oblique, 2 rectangular, 3 centered
rectangular, 4 hexagonal, and 5 square

Three dimensional lattice symmetry:

The point symmetry groups in 3-D requires the 14 different lattice types listed in Table-1,. The
general lattice is triclinic, and there are 13 special lattices. These are grouped for convenience into
systems classified according to seven types of cells which are
1. Triclinic (General Types – a  b  c,    )
2. Monoclinic
3. Orthorhombic (Rhombic)
4. Tetragonal
 5. Cubic
6. Trigonal (Rhombohedral)
7. Hexagonal

Table: 1 The seven crystal systems divided into 14 Bravais lattices.

Sl. Crystal Bravais lattice Unit cell Lattice Examples
No system (Number & characteristics parameters
symbol) (axes and angles)
1 Triclinic 1, simple (P) a  b  c, K2Cr2O7,
     900 CuSO4.5H2O,
H3BO3
2 Monoclinic 2, simple (P) a  b  c, Monoclinic
Base-centred (C)    900   Sulpher,
Na2SO4.10H2O
3 Orthorhombi 4, simple (P) a  b  c, Rhombic
c Base-centred (C)  =  =  = 900 sulphur, KNO3
Body-centred (I) CaCO3,,
Face-centred (F) Ba2SO4
4 Tetragonal 2, simple (P) a = b  c, SnO2, White
Body-centred (1)  =  =  = 900 tin, TiO2,
Ca2SO4
5 Cubic 3, simple (P) a = b = c, Copper, KCl,
Body-centred (I)  =  =  = 900 NaCl, Zinc
Face-Centred (F) blend,
Diamond
6 Trigonal 1, simple (P) a = b = c, Ca2CO3
 =  =   900, (Calcite), HgS
 1200 (Cinnaber)
7. Hexagonal 1, simple (P) a = b  c, Graphite, Mg,
 =  = 900, ZnO, CdS,
 = 1200

P  Primitive (it has atoms only at the corners of the parallelepiped)

C  Base-centered (it has extra atom at the centre of the base)
I  Body centered (From German word Innenzentriete)
F  Face-centered
The volume of the unit cell can be calculated by evaluating a · b × c where a, b, and c are the lattice
vectors. The volumes of the Bravais lattices are given below:

Lattice system Volume

Triclinic
Monoclinic
Orthorhombic abc
Tetragonal a2c
rhombohedral

Hexagonal

Cubic a3

Bravais lattices in 4 dimensions

In four dimensions, there are 52 Bravais lattices. Of these, 21 are primitive and 31 are centered.

Lattice points per unit cell

In primitive cell, lattice points are located only at corners, while each corners of the cell is common
to eight neighboring unit cells and the contribution towards the unit cell per corner is only one-
eight. Since there are eight corners, therefore the number of lattice point per unit cell is only one.

Primitive cell contains one lattice point.

Cubic cell contains one lattice point.
Body centered cubic contains 2 lattice points
and conventional face centered cubic (fcc) cell contains four lattice points.

Characteristics of cubic lattices:

Volume, conventional cell Simple Body-Centred Face Centred
a3 a3 a3
Lattice points per unit cell 1 2 4
Volume of primitive cell a3
a3 a3
Number of nearest neighbors 6 8 12
Packing fraction or efficiency 0.524 or 52% 0.680 or 68% 0.740 or 74%
Hexagonal close packed  74%, c/a = 1.633

Primitive cell of bcc and fcc structure

Body centered cubic, showing a The rhombohedral primitive cell

primitive cell which is a of the face centered cubic crystal
with translation vectors
rhombohedron of edge and
angle between adjacent edges is
109028’ and Translation vector

and the angles between the axes

are 600

Hexagonal close packed structure (hcp)

 Diamond Structure Zinc blend (ZnS) Structure

The NaCl and CsCl structure:

NaCl CsCl
The sodium chloride crystal structure can be (is) construct by arranging Na + and Cl- ions
alternately at the lattice points of a simple cubic lattice. In the crystal each ion is surrounded by six
(6) nearest neighbors of the opposite charge. The space lattice is fcc and the basis has one cl - ion at

000 and one Na+ ion at . Figure shows conventional cubic cell. Variation in ion diameters is

due to clarify the spatial arrangement. Example: LiH, NaCl, KBr, KCl, PbS, NH 4I, AgBr, Mgo,
MnO, BaO, etc.

In the cesium chloride crystal structure, space lattice is simple cubic and the basis has one

Cs+ ion at 000 and one Cl- at . There is one molecule per primitive cell, with atoms at the

corners 000 and body centered positions of the simple cubic space lattice. Each atom may be

viewed as at the center of a cube of atoms of the opposite kind. So the number of nearest neighbors
or co-ordination number is eight (8). Example: CsCl, NH4Cl, etc.