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Assignment - 1 - Crystallography I - Solutions

The document discusses the lattice and basis vectors for graphene and face centered cubic lattices. It also explains why 5-fold rotation symmetry is not possible in 2D crystals and identifies the Bravais lattice type and lattice/basis vectors for CsCl.

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30 views3 pages

Assignment - 1 - Crystallography I - Solutions

The document discusses the lattice and basis vectors for graphene and face centered cubic lattices. It also explains why 5-fold rotation symmetry is not possible in 2D crystals and identifies the Bravais lattice type and lattice/basis vectors for CsCl.

Uploaded by

ep21b004
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EP3220: Solid State Physics

Assignment - 1
1. Find the lattice and basis vectors for graphene which is a two-dimensional crystal
made out of carbon atoms as shown below.

Solution:

In the above figure we a have a graphene crystal structure. Now, the lattice vectors are,

√3 1 √3 1
𝑎
⃗⃗⃗⃗1 = √3 𝑎𝐶𝐶 ( , ) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑎2 = √3 𝑎𝐶𝐶 ( , − )
2 2 2 2

And basis vector for the graphene is,

1 √3
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑎′1 = 𝑎𝐶𝐶 ( , )
2 2

Where, 𝑎𝑐𝑐 is carbon to carbon distance.

2. Explain why 5-fold rotation symmetry is not possible.


Solution: If we try to fill up a 2D space with pentagon that will be impossible as shown in the
diagram below there will be some gap, implying that five-fold symmetry in crystal is not
possible.
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ with a length of 'a'. If we rotate the vector
To prove it mathematically, Consider a vector 𝐴𝐵
around point A by an angle 𝜃, we obtain a new point B'. Similarly, if we rotate the vector
around point B by the same angle 𝜃, we get a new point A'.

Here, length of 𝐴′ 𝐵 ′,
𝜋
= 𝑎 + 2𝑎 sin 𝛼 = 𝑎 + 2𝑎 sin (𝜃 − ) = 𝑎 − 2𝑎 cos 𝜃
2

It will satisfy the rotation symmetry if this length is multiplication of some integer m. So,

𝑚𝑎 = 𝑎 − 2𝑎 cos 𝜃
The integer m can take values 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 but can not take the value 5. For 𝑚 = 5, we
get, cos 𝜃 = −2 which is not possible as | cos 𝜃 | = 1.

3. Express the primitive lattice vectors for a face centered cubic lattice.

On left side we have an FCC unit cell and on the right side a shaded region which is its
primitive unit cell. So, for the primitive lattice vectors are,
𝑎
𝑎
⃗⃗⃗⃗1 =(𝑖̂ + 𝑘̂ ),
2
𝑎
𝑎2 = (𝑗̂ + 𝑘̂ ),
⃗⃗⃗⃗
2
𝑎
𝑎3 =
⃗⃗⃗⃗ (𝑖̂ + 𝑗̂) ,
2
And 𝛼 = 𝛽 = 𝛾 = 60°.

4. Following figure shows the cubic crystal unit cell of CsCl.

Identify the Bravais lattice type and write the lattice and basis vectors.
Solution: CsCl is made of two interpenetrating simple cubic lattices where one type of ion
sits at the center of another type.
The lattice vectors are,

𝑎
⃗⃗⃗⃗1 = 𝑎𝑖̂, 𝑎2 = 𝑎𝑗̂
⃗⃗⃗⃗ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎3 = 𝑎𝑘̂
⃗⃗⃗⃗
And basis vector is,
𝑎
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑎′1 = (𝑖̂ + 𝑗̂ + 𝑘̂ ).
2

5. Express the valid symmetry operations for the following structures.

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