Lecture Notes on Structure of Matter by Prof. Dr.

Mohammad Jellur Rahman, Department of Physics, BUET, Dhaka-1000

Lecture 02: Space lattice and Translation vectors

The property that distinguishes crystals from other solids is that the constituent particles in crystals
are arranged in a three-dimensional periodic manner. In 1848 Bravais introduced the concept of
space lattice.

Lattice: A lattice is a regular periodic array of points in space where objects are replaced by points-
imaginary points. It may consider as removal of the atom, but the center remains there.

Lattice arrangement in 1-D is the line of Lattice, in 2-D is the Lattice plane, in 3-D is the space
Lattice.
Thus the three dimensional lattice arrangements with translation vectors is the space lattice. Let us
consider the translation of an object to a finite distance and then repeated systematically along 3-D
crystallographic directions x, y, z to obtain 3-D space lattice.

Lattice is a mathematical abstraction which is defined by 3 fundamental translation vectors 𝑎⃗, 𝑏⃗⃗, 𝑐⃗
such that the atomic arrangement looks the same in every respect when viewed from the point r as
when viewed from the point
− − → → →
𝒓′ = 𝑟 + n1𝑎 + n2𝑏 + n3 𝒄 ....................................................... (1)
Where n1, n2, n3 are arbitrary integers and the set of points 𝑟 / defined by (1) for all n1, n2, n3 defines
a lattice.
Lattice point can thus be defined by 3-fundmental basis vectors called primitive translation vector in
x, y, z crystallographic direction as
𝜏⃗= n1a + n2b + n3c
− −
So that 𝒓′ = 𝑟 +𝜏⃗

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Lecture Notes on Structure of Matter by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Jellur Rahman, Department of Physics, BUET, Dhaka-1000

For example: If the 3-D fundamental basis vectors of a crystal are

→ → →
𝑎 =3𝑖̑, 𝑏 =3𝑗̑ and 𝒄 =1.5(𝑖̑ + 𝑗̑ + 𝑘̑ ), the primitive translation
operation
𝜏⃗= n1(3𝑖̑)+ n2(3𝑗̑)+ n31.5(𝑖̑ + 𝑗̑ + 𝑘̑)
gives the body centered cubic structure.

Bravais and Non-Bravais lattice

There are two classes of lattices: the Bravais and the non-Bravais. In a Bravais lattice all
lattice points are equivalent and hence by necessity all atoms in the crystal are of the same kind. On
the other hand, in a non-Bravais lattice, some of the lattice points are non-equivalent. Non-Bravais
lattices are often referred to as a lattice with a basis. The basis is a set of atoms which is located
near each site of a Bravais lattice.
The lattice is defined by fundamental translation vectors. For example, the position vector of any
lattice site of the two-dimensional lattice in figure can be written as

T=n1a1+n2a2

where a1 and a2 are the two vectors shown in

figure, and n1, n2 is a pair of integers whose
values depend on the lattice site. So, the two
non-collinear vectors a1 and a2 can be used to
obtain the positions of all lattice points
which are expressed by the equation. The set
of all vectors T expressed by this equation is
called the lattice vectors. Therefore, the
lattice has a translational symmetry under
displacements specified by the lattice vectors
T. In this sense the vectors a1 and a2 can be called the primitive translation vectors. The choice of
the primitive translations vectors is not unique. One could equally well take the vectors a1 and a =
a1+a2 as primitive translation vectors. This choice is usually dictated by convenience.

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Lecture Notes on Structure of Matter by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Jellur Rahman, Department of Physics, BUET, Dhaka-1000

Crystal structure
A crystal structure is formed when a group of atoms or molecules are attached identically to
each lattice point. This group of atoms or molecules are called basis.

Basis is identical– in composition,

in arrangement,
in orientation.
and repeated periodically in space to form the crystal structure which can be represented by the
logical formula: Lattice + Basis = crystal structure

Lattice + Basis crystal structure

2-D noncollinear translation define a plane lattice
3-D non-coplanar translation defined a space lattice
Primitive unit cell & Non-primitive unit cell
All solids are composed of discrete basic units which are the atoms. These atoms are not
distributed randomly but are arranged in a highly ordered manner relative to each other. Such a
group of ordered atoms is referred to as a crystal.
In 3-D, the simplest parallelepiped formed by the primitive translation operation T is called unit
cell.
The parallelepiped defined by primitive axes a, b, c is called primitive cell. The number of atoms in
a primitive cell or primitive basis is always the same for a given crystal structure.
• It is the minimum volume cell.
• It is the building block element.
• It has always only one lattice point per cell.
− − − − − −
Volume of the unit cell 𝑉𝑐 = |𝑎. 𝑏 × 𝑐 | 𝑜𝑟 |𝑎 × 𝑏. 𝑐 |

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Lecture Notes on Structure of Matter by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Jellur Rahman, Department of Physics, BUET, Dhaka-1000

Here parallelogram 1, 2, 3 are equal in area

and any one of them could be taken as the
primitive cell. The parallelogram 4 has twice
the area of a primitive cell and thus a
compound cell. The compound cell is also a
non-primitive cell. There is more than one
lattice point and the area is constant multiple of primitive cell.
Example of primitive cell – Simple cubic; Non-primitive cell – Body centered cubic, Face centered
cubic; Base centered orthorhombic, Hexagonal structure, etc.

Wigner-Seitz cell
It was first suggested by E. P Wigner and F. Seitz. A primitive cell can also be chosen as:
• Firstly, draw lines to connect a given lattice point to all nearby
lattice points.
• Secondly, at the midpoint and normal to these lines draw new
lines or planes.
The smallest volume enclosed in this way is the Wigner-Seitz primitive
cell. All the space of the crystal may be filled by these primitive cells, by
translating the unit cell by the lattice vectors.

Lattice parameters and lattice constant

The lattice constant [or lattice parameter] refers to the constant distance between unit cells in
a crystal lattice. Lattices in three dimensions generally have three lattice constants, referred to as a,
b, and c. However, in the special case of cubic crystal
structures, all of the constants are equal and we only refer
to a. Similarly, in hexagonal crystal structures, the a and b
constants are equal, and we only refer to the a and c
constants. A group of lattice constants could be referred to
as lattice parameters. However, the full set of lattice
parameters consist of the three lattice constants and the
three angles between them.

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Lecture Notes on Structure of Matter by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Jellur Rahman, Department of Physics, BUET, Dhaka-1000

For example, the lattice constant for a common carbon diamond is a = 3.57Å at 300 K. The
structure is equilateral although its actual shape cannot be determined from only the lattice constant.
Furthermore, in real applications, typically the average lattice constant is given. As lattice constants
have the dimension of length, their SI unit is the meter. Lattice constants are typically of the order
of several angstroms (i.e., tenths of a nanometer). Lattice constants can be determined using
techniques such as X-ray diffraction or with an atomic force microscope (AFM).
− −−
Thus, the tree fundamental translation vectors 𝑎,𝑏,𝑐 along with opposite angles , , , each of
between two crystallographic axes as shown in figure are the lattice parameters and the distance
between two identical atoms or molecules is the lattice constant.

Co-ordination number
The points in a Bravais lattice that are closest to a given point are called its nearest
neighbors. Because of the periodic nature of a Bravais lattice, each point has the same number of
nearest neighbors. This number is thus a property of the lattice and is referred to as the co-
ordination number of the lattice.
In solid-state structures of crystals are defined by a simpler model in which the atoms are
represented by touching spheres. In this model the coordination number of an atom is the number of
other atoms which it touches. For an atom in the interior of a crystal lattice the number of atoms
touching the given atom is the bulk coordination number; for an atom at a surface of a crystal, this
is the surface coordination number.

A simple cubic lattice has co-ordination no. 6, Body centered cubic lattice has co-ordination no. 8
and face centered cubic lattice has co-ordination no. 12.

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