MME 315
Lecture 04
X-ray Diffraction
3. Reciprocal lattice in Ewald sphere and diffraction pattern of
polycrystalline materials
[Ref] 1. Y. Leng, Materials Characterization, Second edition, Wiley-VCH, Verlag GmbH & Co.
KgaA, 2013. (Chapt-2)
2. B. D. Cullity, Elements of X-ray Diffraction, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
(Chapt-1, 3)
Lecture Objective
This lecture introduces the reciprocal lattice and its use in Ewald sphere and ring
type diffraction of polycrystalline materials.
Lecture Outcomes
After completion of this lecture, students should be able to
1. understand the reciprocal lattice and relate between a reciprocal lattice and its
real crystal lattice.
2. apply the reciprocal lattice in the construction of Ewald sphere.
3. interpret ring type diffraction of polycrystalline materials.
4. construct limiting sphere.
Reciprocal Lattice
➢ Bragg’s law indicates that the angles of diffraction are inversely
proportional to the spacing of the reflecting planes in the crystal lattice.
➢ In order to analyse a diffraction pattern it is therefore helpful to establish
a three-dimensional coordinate system in which the axes have the
dimensions of inverse length (nm-1). Such a system of coordinates is
referred to as reciprocal space.
➢ A crystallographic plane (hkl) is represented as a light spot of
constructive interference when the Bragg conditions are satisfied. Such
diffraction spots of various crystallographic planes in a crystal form a
three-dimensional array that is the reciprocal lattice of the crystal.
➢ A reciprocal lattice is in an imaginary reciprocal space that relates to the
corresponding crystal lattice in real space.
➢ Reciprocal Lattice bi can be defined for every direct space lattice ai
(a, b and c) by
b1 = (a2 X a3) / (a1 . a2 X a3) ……
Lecture 4
➢ A direction in the crystal lattice is defined by a vector ruvw with unit vectors a,
b, and c in real space
➢ A direction can be defined in reciprocal lattice by a vector d∗hkl with the
reciprocal unit vectors a*, b*, and c* in reciprocal space
Equ-2.7
➢ A dimension in reciprocal space is a reciprocal of the dimension in real space
(with a factor of unity). The magnitude of a vector d∗hkl in a reciprocal lattice
equals the reciprocal of plane spacing (dhkl ) in real space.
Equ-2.8
Lecture 4
Lecture 4
The relationship between a reciprocal lattice and its real crystal structure is
highlighted as follows:
Lecture 4
Lecture 4
Ewald Sphere
❖ Bragg’s Law describes the necessary conditions to detect crystal planes by
diffraction.
❖ The conditions can also be graphically expressed by the Ewald sphere method
using the concept of the reciprocal lattice.
❖ The Ewald sphere is an imaginary sphere with a radius of 1/λ in reciprocal space.
Ewald sphere are equivalent to Bragg’s
Law,
Lecture 4
Single crystal diffraction in TEM
➢ The electron wavelength in TEM is even shorter than X-rays (∼0.0037 nm with acceleration
voltage of 100 kV)
➢ For an incident beam with such a short wavelength (λ), the radius of the Ewald sphere (λ−
1) is huge
➢ The surface of the Ewald sphere is flat compared with the unit vectors of the reciprocal
lattice for crystals
Ring type diffraction pattern in a polycrystalline
Materials
Lecture 4
The Limiting Sphere Construction
The value of sin is constrained to lie between 1, so that, from Bragg’s law, the value of 1/d
must fall in the range between 0 and 2/ if the parallel planes of atoms are to give rise to a
diffracted beam.
If the beam of radiation is incident along the x-axis, and a diffracting crystal is located
at the origin of the coordinate system, then a sphere of radius 2/ , termed
the limiting sphere.
Limiting sphere will enclose all the allowed values of 1/d in reciprocal space and
hence define all the planes in the crystal that have the potential to diffract at the
wavelength .
Lecture 4
