1 / 47

Lecture 2: Crystal Symmetry

Lecture 2: Crystal Symmetry. Crystals are made of infinite number of unit cells. Unit cell is the smallest unit of a crystal, which, if repeated, could generate the whole crystal. .

Download Presentation

Lecture 2: Crystal Symmetry

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Lecture 2: Crystal Symmetry

  2. Crystals are made of infinite number of unit cells Unit cell is the smallest unit of a crystal, which, if repeated, could generate the whole crystal. A crystal’s unit cell dimensions are defined by six numbers, the lengths of the 3 axes, a, b, and c, and the three interaxial angles, ,  and .

  3. A crystal lattice is a 3-D stack of unit cells Crystal lattice is an imaginative grid system in three dimensions in which every point (or node) has an environment that is identical to that of any other point or node.

  4. Miller indices A Miller index is a series of coprime integers that are inversely proportional to the intercepts of the crystal face or crystallographic planes with the edges of the unit cell.  It describes the orientation of a plane in the 3-D lattice with respect to the axes. The general form of the Miller index is (h, k, l) where h, k, and l are integers related to the unit cell along the a, b, c crystal axes.

  5. Miller Indices Rules for determining Miller Indices: 1. Determine the intercepts of the face along the crystallographic axes, in terms of unit cell dimensions. 2. Take the reciprocals 3. Clear fractions 4. Reduce to lowest terms An example of the (111) plane (h=1, k=1, l=1) is shown on the right.

  6. Another example: Rules for determining Miller Indices: 1. Determine the intercepts of the face along the crystallographic axes, in terms of unit cell dimensions. 2. Take the reciprocals 3. Clear fractions 4. Reduce to lowest terms

  7. Where does a protein crystallographer see the Miller indices? • Common crystal faces are parallel to lattice planes • Each diffraction spot can be regarded as a X-ray beam reflected from a lattice plane, and therefore has a unique Miller index.

  8. Symmetry A state in which parts on opposite sides of a plane, line, or point display arrangements that are related to one another via a symmetry operation such as translation, rotation, reflection or inversion. Application of the symmetry operators leaves the entire crystal unchanged.

  9. Symmetry Elements Rotation turns all the points in the asymmetric unit around one axis, the center of rotation. A rotation does not change the handedness of figures. The center of rotation is the only invariant point (point that maps onto itself).

  10. Symmetry elements: rotation

  11. Symmetry elements: rotation

  12. Symmetry Elements Translation moves all the points in the asymmetric unit the same distance in the same direction. This has no effect on the handedness of figures in the plane. There are no invariant points (points that map onto themselves) under a translation.

  13. Symmetry Elements Screw axes (rotation + translation) rotation about the axis of symmetry by 360/n, followed by a translation parallel to the axis by r/n of the unit cell length in that direction. (r < n)

  14. 120 rotation 1/3 unit cell translation

  15. Symmetry Elements Inversion, or center of symmetry every point on one side of a center of symmetry has a similar point at an equal distance on the opposite side of the center of symmetry.

  16. Symmetry Elements Mirror plane or Reflection flips all points in the asymmetric unit over a line, which is called the mirror, and thereby changes the handedness of any figures in the asymmetric unit. The points along the mirror line are all invariant points (points that map onto themselves) under a reflection.

  17. Symmetry elements: mirror plane and inversion center The handedness is changed.

  18. Symmetry Elements Glide reflection (mirror plane + translation) reflects the asymmetric unit across a mirror and then translates parallel to the mirror. A glide plane changes the handedness of figures in the asymmetric unit. There are no invariant points (points that map onto themselves) under a glide reflection.

  19. Symmetries in crystallography • Crystal systems • Lattice systems • Space group symmetry • Point group symmetry • Laue symmetry, Patterson symmetry

  20. Crystal system • Crystals are grouped into seven crystal systems, according to characteristic symmetry of their unit cell. • The characteristic symmetry of a crystal is a combination of one or more rotations and inversions.

  21. 7 Crystal Systems orthorhombic hexagonal monoclinic trigonal cubic tetragonal triclinic Crystal System External Minimum Symmetry Unit Cell Properties Triclinic None a, b, c, al, be, ga, Monoclinic One 2-fold axis, || to b (b unique) a, b, c, 90, be, 90 Orthorhombic Three perpendicular 2-folds a, b, c, 90, 90, 90 Tetragonal One 4-fold axis, parallel c a, a, c, 90, 90, 90 Trigonal One 3-fold axis a, a, c, 90, 90, 120 Hexagonal One 6-fold axis a, a, c, 90, 90, 120 Cubic Four 3-folds along space diagonal a, a, ,a, 90, 90, 90

  22. Lattices Auguste Bravais (1811-1863) • In 1848, Auguste Bravais demonstrated that in a 3-dimensional system there are fourteen possible lattices • A Bravais lattice is an infinite array of discrete points with identical environment • seven crystal systems + four lattice centering types = 14 Bravais lattices • Lattices are characterized by translation symmetry

  23. Four lattice centering types

  24. Tetragonal lattices are either primitive (P) or body-centered (I) C centered lattice = Primitive lattice

  25. Monoclinic lattices are either primitive or C centered

  26. Point group symmetry • Inorganic crystals usually have perfect shape which reflects their internal symmetry • Point groups are originally used to describe the symmetry of crystal. • Point group symmetry does not consider translation. • Included symmetry elements are rotation, mirror plane, center of symmetry, rotary inversion.

  27. Point group symmetry diagrams

  28. There are a total of 32 point groups

  29. N-fold axes with n=5 or n>6 does not occur in crystals Adjacent spaces must be completely filled (no gaps, no overlaps).

  30. Laue class, Patterson symmetry • Laue class corresponds to symmetry of reciprocal space (diffraction pattern) • Patterson symmetry is Laue class plus allowed Bravais centering (Patterson map)

  31. Space groups The combination of all available symmetry operations (32 point groups), together with translation symmetry, within the all available lattices (14 Bravais lattices) lead to 230 Space Groups that describe the only ways in which identical objects can be arranged in an infinite lattice. The International Tables list those by symbol and number, together with symmetry operators, origins, reflection conditions, and space group projection diagrams.

  32. A diagram from International Table of Crystallography

  33. Identification of the Space Group is called indexing the crystal. The International Tables for X-ray Crystallography tell us a huge amount of information about any given space group. For instance, If we look up space group P2, we find it has a 2-fold rotation axis and the following symmetry equivalent positions: X , Y , Z -X , Y , -Z and an asymmetric unit defined by: 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 0 ≤ y ≤ 1 0 ≤ z ≤ 1/2 An interactive tutorial on Space Groups can be found on-line in Bernhard Rupp’s Crystallography 101 Course: http://www-structure.llnl.gov/Xray/tutorial/spcgrps.htm

  34. Space group P1 Point group 1 + Bravais lattice P1

  35. Space group P1bar Point group 1bar + Bravais lattice P1

  36. Space group P2 Point group 2 + Bravais lattice “primitive monoclinic”

  37. Space group P21 Point group 2 + Bravais lattice “primitive monoclinic”, but consider screw axis

  38. Coordinate triplets, equivalent positions r = ax + by + cz, Therefore, each point can be described by its fractional coordinates, that is, by its coordinate triplet (x, y, z)

  39. Space group determination • Symmetry in diffraction pattern • Systematic absences • Space groups with mirror planes and inversion centers do not apply to protein crystals, leaving only 65 possible space groups.

  40. A lesson in symmetry from M. C. Escher

  41. Another one:

  42. Asymmetric unit Recall that the unit cell of a crystal is the smallest 3-D geometric figure that can be stacked without rotation to form the lattice. The asymmetric unit is the smallest part of a crystal structure from which the complete structure can be built using space group symmetry. The asymmetric unit may consist of only a part of a molecule, or it can contain more than one molecule, if the molecules not related by symmetry.

  43. Matthew Coefficient • Matthews found that for many protein crystals the ratio of the unit cell volume and the molecular weight is between 1.7 and 3.5Å3/Da with most values around 2.15Å3/Da • Vm is often used to determine the number of molecules in each asymmetric unit. • Non-crystallographic symmetry related molecules within the asymmetric unit

More Related