Bravais Lattice

Bravais lattice
In geometry and crystallography, a

Bravais lattice, named after Auguste
Bravais (1850),[1] is an infinite array of
discrete points in three dimensional
space generated by a set of discrete
translation operations described by:
where ni are any integers and ai are

known as the primitive vectors which lie
in different directions and span the
lattice. This discrete set of vectors must
be closed under vector addition and
subtraction. For any choice of position
vector R, the lattice looks exactly the
same.
When the discrete points are atoms, ions,

or polymer strings of solid matter, the
Bravais lattice concept is used to
formally define a crystalline arrangement
and its (finite) frontiers. A crystal is made
up of a periodic arrangement of one or
more atoms (the basis) repeated at each
lattice point. Consequently, the crystal
looks the same when viewed from any
equivalent lattice point, namely those
separated by the translation of one unit
cell (the motif).
Two Bravais lattices are often considered

equivalent if they have isomorphic
symmetry groups. In this sense, there are
14 possible Bravais lattices in three-
dimensional space. The 14 possible
symmetry groups of Bravais lattices are
14 of the 230 space groups.
Bravais lattices in 2
dimensions
1 – oblique (monoclinic), 2 – rectangular
(orthorhombic), 3 – centered rectangular
(orthorhombic), 4 – hexagonal, and 5 – square
(tetragonal).
In two-dimensional space, there are 5

Bravais lattices,[2] grouped into four
crystal families.
5 Bravais lattices
Crystal family Schönflies
Primitive Centered
Monoclinic C2 Oblique
Orthorhombic D2 Rectangular Centered rectangular
Hexagonal D6 Hexagonal
Tetragonal D4 Square
The unit cells are specified according to

the relative lengths of the cell edges (a
and b) and the angle between them (θ).
The area of the unit cell can be
calculated by evaluating the norm
||a × b||, where a and b are the lattice
vectors. The properties of the crystal
families are given below:
Crystal family Area Axial distances (edge lengths) Axial angle
Monoclinic a≠b θ ≠ 90°
Orthorhombic a≠b θ = 90°
Hexagonal a=b θ = 120°
Tetragonal a=b θ = 90°
dimensions
In three-dimensional space, there are 14
Bravais lattices. These are obtained by
combining one of the seven lattice
systems with one of the centering types.
The centering types identify the locations
of the lattice points in the unit cell as
follows:
Primitive (P): lattice points on the cell

corners only (sometimes called
simple)
Base-centered (A, B, or C): lattice
points on the cell corners with one
additional point at the center of each
face of one pair of parallel faces of the
cell (sometimes called end-centered)
Body-centered (I): lattice points on the
cell corners, with one additional point
at the center of the cell
Face-centered (F): lattice points on the
cell corners, with one additional point
at the center of each of the faces of
the cell
Not all combinations of lattice systems

and centering types are needed to
describe all of the possible lattices, as it
can be shown that several of these are in
fact equivalent to each other. For
example, the monoclinic I lattice can be
described by a monoclinic C lattice by
different choice of crystal axes. Similarly,
all A- or B-centred lattices can be
described either by a C- or P-centering.
This reduces the number of
combinations to 14 conventional Bravais
lattices, shown in the table below.[3]
14 Bravais Lattices
Crystal Lattice
Schönflies Base- Body- Face-
family system Primitive
centered centered centered
triclinic Ci
monoclinic C2h
orthorhombic D2h
tetragonal D4h
rhombohedral D3d
hexagonal
hexagonal D6h
cubic Oh
The unit cells are specified according to

the relative lengths of the cell edges (a, b,
c) and the angles between them (α, β, γ).
The volume of the unit cell can be
calculated by evaluating the triple
product a · (b × c), where a, b, and c are
the lattice vectors. The properties of the
lattice systems are given below:
Axial
Crystal Lattice distances Axial Corresponding
Volume
family system (edge angles[4] examples
lengths)[4]
K2Cr2O7,
Triclinic (All remaining cases) CuSO4·5H2O,
H3BO3
α=γ= Monoclinic
Monoclinic a≠c 90°, β ≠ sulphur,
90° Na2SO4·10H2O
Rhombic
α=β=γ
Orthorhombic a≠b≠c sulphur, KNO3,
= 90°
BaSO4
White tin,
α=β=γ
Tetragonal a=b≠c SnO2, TiO2,
= 90°
CaSO4
Calcite
α=β=γ
Rhombohedral a=b=c (CaCO3),
≠ 90°
cinnabar (HgS)
Hexagonal
α=β=
Graphite, ZnO,
Hexagonal a=b 90°, γ =
CdS
120°
NaCl, zinc
α=β=γ
Cubic a=b=c blende, copper
= 90°
metal
dimensions
In four dimensions, there are 64 Bravais
lattices. Of these, 23 are primitive and 41
are centered. Ten Bravais lattices split
into enantiomorphic pairs.[5]
See also
Translational symmetry
Crystal habit
Zone axis
Crystal system
Miller index
Translation operator (quantum
mechanics)
References
1. Aroyo, Mois I.; Müller, Ulrich;
Wondratschek, Hans (2006). "Historical
Introduction" . International Tables for
Crystallography. Springer. A1 (1.1): 2–5.
doi:10.1107/97809553602060000537 .
Archived from the original on 2013-07-
04. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
2. Kittel, Charles (1996) [1953]. "Chapter
1". Introduction to Solid State Physics
(Seventh ed.). New York: John Wiley &
Sons. p. 10. ISBN 0-471-11181-3.
Retrieved 2008-04-21.
3. Based on the list of conventional cells
found in Hahn (2002), p. 744
4. Hahn (2002), p. 758
5. Brown, Harold; Bülow, Rolf; Neubüser,
Joachim; Wondratschek, Hans;
Zassenhaus, Hans (1978),
Crystallographic groups of four-
dimensional space, New York: Wiley-
Interscience [John Wiley & Sons],
ISBN 978-0-471-03095-9, MR 0484179
Further reading
Bravais, A. (1850). "Mémoire sur les
systèmes formés par les points
distribués régulièrement sur un plan ou
dans l'espace" [Memoir on the systems
formed by points regularly distributed
on a plane or in space]. J. Ecole
Polytech. 19: 1–128. (English: Memoir
1, Crystallographic Society of America,
1949.)
Hahn, Theo, ed. (2002). International
Tables for Crystallography, Volume A:
Space Group Symmetry . A (5th ed.).
Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag.
doi:10.1107/97809553602060000100
. ISBN 978-0-7923-6590-7.
External links
Catalogue of Lattices (by Nebe and
Sloane)
Smith, Walter Fox (2002). "The Bravais
Lattices Song" .
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Bravais lattice

In geometry and crystallography, a

where ni are any integers and ai are

When the discrete points are atoms, ions,

Two Bravais lattices are often considered

In two-dimensional space, there are 5

Orthorhombic D2 Rectangular Centered rectangular

The unit cells are speciﬁed according to

Crystal family Area Axial distances (edge lengths) Axial angle

Monoclinic a≠b θ ≠ 90°

Orthorhombic a≠b θ = 90°

Hexagonal a=b θ = 120°

Tetragonal a=b θ = 90°

Primitive (P): lattice points on the cell

Not all combinations of lattice systems

The unit cells are speciﬁed according to

Last edited 18 days ago by Beauty …

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

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