APL 102: Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering – Lab Session

Experiment 1: To study 2D Bravais Space Lattices

Maximum marks: 25
Materials:
• Blank sheet of paper/graph paper
• Table of plane groups
• Pen, Pencil, scale etc.

Brief review of concepts:

Crystals are nothing but three-dimensional periodic pattern of atoms. A periodic pattern can be
described in terms of a lattice and a motif. We will look at a two-dimensional periodic pattern and
identify its lattice, motif and plane group.
Lattice: An infinite set of discrete points such that each has identical neighbors of other points is
called a lattice. Any point of a periodic pattern can be selected as a reference lattice point. The set of
all points translationally equivalent to this point constitutes the lattice of the pattern.
Unit cell: A periodic pattern can be described by giving its unit cell. A unit cell is a region which
when repeated translationally can fill the space without gaps or overlaps. In 2D a unit cell can be
selected to be a parallelogram, and in 3D a parallelepiped, with lattice point at all corners.
Primitive unit cell has lattice points at corners only i.e. exactly one lattice point per unit cell.
Non-primitive unit cell has extra lattice points apart from those at the corners.
Lattice Parameters: In 2D, a unit cell is defined by the edge lengths a and b and the included
angle γ of the parallelogram. The quantities a, b and α are known as the lattice parameters. In 3-
D six lattice parameters a, b, c, and α, β, γ are required to describe the parallelopiped unit cell.
Motif: A motif is the unit of the pattern associated with a lattice point. The choice of a motif is not
unique. One way is to select the contents of a primitive unit cell as a motif. The whole pattern is
always generated by repetition of a suitably selected motif at all the points of the lattice.

Q1. Square lattice with hexagonal motif [7 marks]

a. On a blank sheet of paper, draw a 2D square lattice to scale (i.e. the lattice spacing between the
points must be exact) [1 marks]
b. Now consider the hexagonal motif drawn below. What are the symmetry elements associated
with this motif? List only the rotational and reflection elements. [2 marks]

c. Consider the crystal that results when this motif placed on the lattice such that the centre of the
motif aligns exactly with each lattice point. What is the symmetry of the resulting crystal? [2
marks]
d. Now consider a rotated hexagonal motif (similar to the rotated square motif discussed in class).
What is the symmetry of the resulting crystal? [2 marks]
e. Please upload a picture of yourself holding the pattern drawn to get credit for the
problem. If picture is missing, 0 marks will be given for the entire question.
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 APL 102: Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering – Lab Session

Q2. The crystallographic restriction theorem [4 marks]

It is observed that the rotational symmetries of a crystal are usually limited to 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, and
6-fold. Other rotational symmetries such as 5-fold, 7-fold etc. are forbidden. This theorem is easier to
establish in two dimensions. Use basic trigonometric arguments, along with the fact that a crystal
shows translational symmetry to prove this theorem.
Note: Quasicrystals can occur with other diffraction pattern symmetries, such as 5-fold; these were not
discovered until 1982 by Dan Shechtman, for which he received the Nobel prize.

Plane Group: The group of all symmetry operations of a 2D periodic pattern is called its plane group.
There are only 17 plane groups possible and their symmetry distribution is shown in the sheet provided.
Thus a two-dimensional periodic pattern can have 2, 3, 4, and 6-fold axes as well as mirror and glide
lines only in 17 different ways shown.

Glide Planes: A glide plane is plane which brings a pattern (crystal) into self- coincidence after
reflection in the plan) followed by a translation parallel to the plane. The translation of glide is half of
the shortest lattice translation along the same direction.

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 APL 102: Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering – Lab Session

Q3. Plane group determination [14 marks]

a) Examine the pattern given below, and sketch it on a fresh piece of paper (to scale). Choose any
point of the pattern as a reference and mark your reference point with the letter R. [1 mark]

b) Now mark every translationally equivalent point of the pattern with a dot. These points
constitute a finite portion of the infinite lattice. [1 mark]
c) Outline a primitive unit cell ABCD. Measure a, b, α using a scale and determine the area of the
unit cell. [2 marks]
d) The choice of a unit cell is not unique. Outline another primitive unit cell EFGH of a shape
different from the first one and measure a, b, γ. [2 marks]
e) How is the area of your second primitive unit cell related to that of your first choice? Why? [1
mark]
f) Now outline a non-primitive unit cell PQRS. Label and measure a, b and γ and find the area.
How does this relate to the area of the primitive cell? Explain your answer. [2 marks]
g) Mark axes of rotational symmetry with appropriate symbols and reflection symmetry by a line.
It is recommended that you use coloured pencil or pen for this. [3 marks]
h) By comparing the symmetry of your pattern with the table of plane groups determine the plane
group of the pattern. You will find that you also have to finally consider glide lines of the
patterns also to complete its symmetry description. [2 marks]
i) Please upload a picture of yourself holding the pattern with the plane group mentioned in
bold to get credit for the problem. If picture is missing, no marks will be awarded for the
entire question.