513.001 Molecular and Solid State Physics

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Physical
Constants

Periodic System
of Elements

      

Oral exam questions on crystal diffraction

During an oral exam I sometimes ask how the Bravais lattice of a crystal can be determined by single crystal diffraction. You should be able to explain how to determine the reciprocal lattice vectors from the experiment, how the real space lattice vectors can be determined, and how the volume of the primitive unit cell can be determined.

If the determination of the Bravais lattice goes well I might ask how to determine the basis of the unit cell.

How can you determine the 2-d arrangement of atoms at the surfce of a crystal?

What is powder diffraction? What is it used for?

How could you construct the first Brillouin zone of a hexagonal lattice?