Stereographic Projection in

Crystallography
If the crystal is imagined to lie within a
sphere that is centered on some
arbitrary point inside the crystal, then
normals to the faces can be
constructed from this point and
extended to cut the sphere (Fig. 2).

The points of intersection with the sphere represent the faces of the crystal in terms of
direction, entirely uninfluenced by their relative sizes, and the symmetry of the
arrangement of these points on the surface of the sphere reveals the true symmetry of
the crystal, whether or not it be well-formed.

Stereographic Projection in
Crystallography
The point P in the Northern hemisphere is
projected into the equatorial circle by
constructing a line from the South pole.
Those points in the Southern hemisphere
maybe projected to the South pole but
would then lie outside the equatorial
circle. Instead we project them along the
North pole.
We distinguish them by marking those
projected to the S-pole as (solid circle) and
those projected to the N-pole as (open
circle).

Zone and Zone Axes

The Zone Axes is the common axis (direction) [uvw] that can
represent intersecting planes defined by (hkl).
The zone axis is represented as the line from the center of
the sphere normal to a great circle defined by the crystal
face (plane).
! Careful ! The equation works for orthogonal crystals only.

Parallel Planes

The set of planes parallel planes, intersecting the projection sphere in circles.
These planes are perpendicular to the equatorial plane and to the M M axis.

Cubic System

We make the stereographic projection (stereogram) of a cubic system along its major
symmetry axes.
The first step is to place the cube with the sphere.

Cubic System [001]

The family of planes [001] coincides with the northsouth and equatorial great circle.

Cubic System [110]

Cubic System [111]

Cubic System

Cubic habits

10

Wulff Net

The lines in the projection can be used to read off angular coordinates

11

Reading angles

Read off angles between poles along great Circles (Not along small circles)

12

Determine trace of a pole

The great circle representing the trace can be found by

rotating the projection until the pole lies on the equator of the
Wulff net. The trace is then the great circle 90 from the pole

13

Determining angles
Plot the poles on a tracing paper and a Wulff net.
Align both center and pin them.
Rotate the poles until they coincide with a single
great circle in the Wulff net.

To measure an angle between two poles, rotate the tracing until the poles of interest lie
on the same great circle and then read off the angular difference.

14

Determining Miller Indices

15

A1. Determine the angles between the (6) projections against [001] of a
monoclinic with parameters { 1, 1, 1, 90, 45, 90 }.

16