Dr Semën Gorfman
Department of Physics, University of SIegen
Lecture course on crystallography, 2015
Lecture 8: Introduction to space symmetry operations
and space groups
REMINDER: Types of symmetry operation
According to the type of movement there are different types of symmetry operations
1. Point symmetry: AT LEAST one point is fixed during
the movement of the object
• Rotation
• Reflection
• Inversion
• Combination of any above
2. Space symmetry: no points are fixed during the
movement of the object
• Translation (lattice translation)
• Combination of translation and any kind of point symmetry operations
2
Space symmetry operations: glide planes
Glide plane is the symmetry element associated with the
combination of a mirror and translation along the mirror.
d
a
d is the displacement, a=2d is a periodicity of a system
The displacement within a
a
glide plane is always half
the periodicity of the
system in the direction of
d the displacement
Notations for the glide plane
Notation Graphical symbol Actual meaning
a, b, c The glide is along basis vectors a, b or c
g The glide is along the line (in 2D)
The glide is along one of the diagonal
n
[110]
d The glide is along the diagonal [111]
Reading symmetry diagrams containing glide
planes
d
1. Glide direction is parallel to the line (for a b or c planes)
2. Glide direction is perpendicular to the projection plane (for a b or c planes)
3. Glide direction between the directions 1 and 2 (for n planes)
Screw axis
Screw axis is the symmetry element associated with the
combination of a rotation axis and translation along the axis.
a
Notation for a screw axis
nm (n denotes rotation angle and m denotes the displacement)
= 360 /n
d = a·m/n, where a is the lattice period along direction of the axis
31 32
0 0
+1/3 +2/3 +2/3 +4/3 (=+1/3)
Notation for a screw axis
nm (n denotes rotation angle and m denotes the displacement)
= 360 /n
d = a·m/n, where a is the lattice period along direction of the axis
41 42 43
0 0 0
+1/4 +1/2 +3/4
+3/4 +1/2 +1/4
+1/2 0 +1/2
61 62
0
0
+1/3
+1/6 +2/3
+5/6
+2/3
+1/3
63
+1/3
+4/6
0 0
+1/2
+1/2
65 +1/2 64
0 0
0
+5/6 0 +2/3
+1/6 +1/3
+1/2
+2/3 +1/3
+1/3 +2/3
+1/2 0
UNIT CELL and ATOMIC POSITIONS
Consider a crystal lattice. According to its
b Bravais type we chose the conventional pair
R2
R3 (triple) of basis vectors: a,b and c. The
crystallographic unit cell is defined by
putting atoms, molecules, etc to the sites,
R1 , R2 ,..., Rn inside the parallelogram
R1
based on the vectors a, b and c. The site of
a each and every atom in the unit cell is given
by the fraction atomic positions, x, y and z.
R= xa+yb+zc,
with 0 ≤ x< 1, 0 ≤ y< 1, 0 ≤ z< 1
The lattice translations are applied to each atomic positions, i.e. if there is
an atom with the coordinate [x,y,z] then there is also an atom with the
coordinates [x+u, y+v, z+w]. Translation [uvw] is regarded as symmetry
operation
Matrix representation for symmetry operation
Any symmetry operation can be presented by
the rotation matrix and displacement vector.
b Suppose the lattice is built on the basis vectors
b’ a, b and c and the position of atoms are given
by the fractional coordinates [xyz] so that R =
xa+yb+zc. If we apply the movement related to
d the particular symmetry operation, the vectors
a, b and c are transformed into a’, b’ and c’ and
a the origin is displaced by the vector d. The
position of symmetry equivalent atom is
a’
R’ = x a’ + y b’ + z c’ + d = x1 a + y1 b + z1 c
a ' S 1 1a S 2 1b S 3 1c x1 S 1 1 S12 S13 x d1
b ' S 12a S 22b S 32c
y1 S 2 1 S 2 2 S 2 3 y d2
c ' S 13a S 23b S 33c z S z d
d d a d b d c 1 31 S 32 S 33 3
1 2 3
Rotation matrix Displacement vector
Combination of symmetry operations in terms of
matrices
Symmetry operation 1: {S1, d1} R1 = S1 R0 + d1
Symmetry operation 2: {S2, d2} R2 = S2 R0 + d2
Symmetry operation 3: {S1, d1} -> {S2, d2}
R2 = S2 R1 + d2 = S2 S1 R0 + S2 d1 + d2
The combination of symmetry operation is represented by the
rotation matrix S2 S1 and displacement vector S2 d1 + d2
For the CENTERED LATTICES.
We know that for 7 (out of 14) types of Bravais lattices the basis vectors are
chosen in the way that the unit cell contains additional point. For these
cases the translation by the centering vector( such as [1/2 1/2 1/2] ) is also
a symmetry operation
Forming crystallographic unit cell:
b
1) [x y z] [x y z] + [xc yc zc]
Rc
2) [x y z] [x y z] + [xc yc zc] + [uvw]
(reducing the position to the
a crystallographic unit cell, i.e. providing
0 ≤ x< 1, 0 ≤ y< 1, 0 ≤ z< 1)
Example: C - centred lattice ([0.5 0.5 0]).
Original positions Adding centring Lattice vector The final position in the unit cell
vector
[x y z] [x y z] + RC Auvw [x y z] +RC + Auvw
[0 0 0] [0.5 0.5 0] [0 0 0] [0.5 0.5 0]
[0.2 0.7 0.7] [0.7 1.2 0.7] [0 -1 0] [0.7 0.2 0.7]
[0.6 0.4 0.2] [1.1 0.9 0.2] [-1 0 0] [0.1 0.9 0.2]
[0.7 0.8 0.1] [1.2 1.3 0.1] [-1 -1 0] [0.2 0.3 0.1]
Unit cell and point symmetry operations
Suppose that crystal belongs
b to the rectangular crystal
system and has the mirror
plane parallel to a. Then the
atom is duplicated by
symmetry operation
m
a
Forming crystallographic unit cell:
1) [x y z] [x -y z]
2) [x -y z] [x -y z] + [uvw]
-b (reducing the position to the crystallographic
unit cell 0 ≤ x< 1, 0 ≤ y< 1, 0 ≤ z< 1)
Special positions in the unit cell
b
However we can consider a
special case when the initial
position of an atom in the unit
cell is [x, 1/2, z]. In this case
m
Forming crystallographic unit cell:
1) [x 1/2 z] [x -1/2 z]
-b
2) [x -1/2 z] [x -1/2 z] + [010] = [x 1/2 z]
(reducing the position to the crystallographic unit cell
0 ≤ x< 1, 0 ≤ y< 1, 0 ≤ z< 1)
THE POSITION OF THE atom [x 1/2 z] is special as it is not
duplicated by the symmetry operation
Mathematical description of symmetry operations. Two
fold axis parallel to c
b
After the rotations by 180
xyz degrees the basis vectors
a,b and c are transformed (a
a’ , b b’ and c c’) so
a’ a that
-x -y z a’ = -a, b’ = -b, c’ = c
b’
The position of symmetry equivalent atom is xa’+yb’+zc’ = -xa-yb+zc = [xyz]
2 fold rotation axis parallel to the c (provided a and b is
perpendicular to c) gives two symmetry equivalent atoms
1) x y z 2) -x -y z
Mathematical description of symmetry operations.
Three fold axis parallel to c (Rhombohedral setting)
c b’ After the rotations by 120
degrees the basis vectors a,b
and c are transformed (a a’ ,
yzx zxy b b’ and c c’) so that
b a’
a’ = b, b’ = c, c’ = a
xyz
a c’
The position of symmetry equivalent atom should be xa’+yb’+zc’ = xb+yc+za = [zxy]
3 fold rotation axis parallel to the [111] gives three symmetry
equivalent atoms
1) x y z 2) z x y 3) y z x
Mathematical expression for the symmetry operations: 6 fold
-x -y z
-y x-y z
-x+y -x z
x-y x z
y -x+y z
xyz
6 fold rotation axis parallel to the c gives six symmetry equivalent atoms
1) x y z 2) x-y x z 3) -y x-y z
4) -x -y z 5) -x+y -x z 6) y -x+y z
Mathematical expression for the symmetry operations: 4
fold
b
x y z
-y x z
a
y -x z
-x -y z
4 fold rotation axis parallel to the c (provided a and b is perpendicular to
c) gives four symmetry equivalent atoms
1) x y z 2) -x -y z 3) -y x z 4) y -x z
SUMMARY OF MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF SYMMETRY
n Orientation The list of atomic positions
2 || c 1) x y z 2) -x -y z
3 || a+b+c 1) x y z 2) z x y 3) y z x
1) x y z 2) -x -y z
4 || c
3) -y x z 4) y -x z
|| c 1) x y z 2) x-y x z 3) -y x-y z
6
4) -x -y z 5) -x+y -x z 6) y -x+y z
The reduction to the crystallographic unit cell, i.e. adding the lattice vector [uvw]
or centering lattice vector (e.g [1/2 1/2 1/2]) should be performed after the
above transformation
Mathematical expression for glide plane (a)
After the reflection in the plane perpendicular
to b the basis vectors a, b and c are
transformed (a a’ , b b’ and c c’) so
that
b x y z a’=a b’=-b c’ = c
Glide along the a axis displaces the origin by
[1/2 0 0]
a
a’
b’
x+1/2 -y z
Example: matrix representation of glide planes
b
1 0 0 1 / 2
S 0 1 0 d 0
0 0 1 0
a
1 0 0 0
S 0 1 0 d 1/2
a 0 0 1 0
