Solid State Physics, Phys.

7635
I. Crystal Structures and Thinking in 3 Dimensions
Due in Gradescope by 11:59 pm Friday, Sept. 2, 2022 (Ithaca time)

Read: Girvin and Yang, chapters 1-3 OR Ashcroft and Mermin, chapters 4 & 5, start 6, skim 7
(or the equivalent, for instance Kittel chapters 1,2 or Ibach and Lüth chapters 2,3). Note that
A&M use an unusual sign convention for the Ewald construction. In class I will use the
conventions of the Ewald construction used by G&Y (and also Kittel chapter 2 and most other
textbooks).

Communicate your reasoning in your solutions, concisely and clearly.

1.1 (10 points) As discussed in class, the FCC lattice can be viewed as an ABCABC... stacking
of hexagonal planes. This implies that it should be possible to define a primitive cell such that
the FCC lattice can be viewed as hexagonal, with a basis consisting of three atoms. Do so, and
give for a FCC lattice with conventional cubic lattice constant a0
(a) the three primitive vectors for the hexagonal description.
(b) three vectors, describing the positions of the basis atoms within a primitive cell, that
go along with "ABC"
(c) the "c/a" ratio of the hexagonal unit cell.
(d) Describe the reciprocal lattice in the hexagonal description of the FCC lattice
(including the dimensions, in terms of the length a0). Should it be the same, or different, than the
reciprocal lattice of the simplest Bravais-lattice description of the FCC lattice (see A&M page
88)? If different, are the set of points in one reciprocal lattice a subset of the other, or are they
unrelated?

1.2 (10 points) MgB2 is a superconductor with a relatively-high

transition temperature of 39 K. It has the crystal structure depicted on the
right, where the boron atoms (dark balls) form a graphitic honeycomb
lattice (stacked identically on top of each other) and the magnesium
atoms (light balls) are located above the center of the B hexagons exactly
in between the layers. Let a be the B-B distance within a layer and c be
the vertical distance between different B layers.
(a) Construct the primitive lattice vectors, the reciprocal lattice,
the Wigner-Seitz cell, and the Brillouin zone for MgB2.
(b) What is the volume of the primitive unit cell? What is the volume of the Brillouin
zone? Give the locations of the basis atoms in terms of the primitive basis vectors.

1.3 (10 points) (A&M problem 5.3).

(a) Show that the density of lattice points (per unit area) in a lattice plane is d/v, where v
is the primitive cell volume and d the spacing between neighboring planes in the family to which
the given plane belongs.
(b) Prove that the lattice planes with the greatest densities of points (in the given crystal
structure) are the {111} planes in a face-centered cubic Bravais lattice and the {110} planes in a
body-centered cubic Bravais lattice. (Hint: This is most easily done by exploiting the relation
between families of lattice planes and reciprocal lattice vectors.)
1.4 (15 points) An exercise in crystal geometry: (This might take more time than a typical
problem, depending on your experience with thinking in 3d.) Imagine that spherical "atoms" of
unit diameter are arranged in each of the structures listed below so that nearest neighbors are
touching. Let dn be the distance of the nth nearest-neighbor shell surrounding a given crystal
site (all distances should be measured center-to-center from the given crystal site), and Nn be the
number of nth nearest neighbors. Complete the chart. Be careful with the HCP structure
because it is not a Bravais lattice. You do not need to explain your logic on this problem in the
same level of detail as for the others. Keep a copy of the chart because it will be useful on the
next problem set.

simple cubic FCC ideal HCP

density (atoms per unit volume) 1
# of atoms per Bravais lattice
1 1 2
primitive cell
1 1 1
d1

N1

d2

N2

d3 3 8/3

N3

d4

N4
symmetry of reciprocal lattice
(reciprocal to the appropriate
primitive lattice --FCC, BCC, e.g.)