In geometry and crystallography, a Bravais lattice, studied by Auguste Bravais (1850),[1] is an infinite

array of discrete points in three dimensional space generated by a set of discrete translation
operations described by:

where ni are any integers and ai are known as the primitive vectors which lie in dierent directions
and span the lattice. This discrete set of vectors must be closed under vector addition and
subtraction. For any choice of position vector R, the lattice looks exactly the same.
When the discrete points are atoms, ions, or polymer strings of solid matter, the Bravais lattice
concept is used to formally define a crystalline arrangement and its (finite) frontiers. A crystal is
made up of a periodic arrangement of one or more atoms (the basis) repeated at each lattice point.
Consequently, the crystal looks the same when viewed from any equivalent lattice point, namely
those separated by the translation of one unit cell (the motive).
Two Bravais lattices are often considered equivalent if they have isomorphic symmetry groups. In this
sense, there are 14 possible Bravais lattices in three-dimensional space. The 14 possible symmetry
groups of Bravais lattices are 14 of the 230 space groups.

Bravais lattices in at most two dimensions

In zero-dimensional and one-dimensional space, there is only one type of Bravais lattice.
In two-dimensional space, there are five Bravais lattices: oblique, rectangular, centered rectangular,
hexagonal (rhombic), and square.[2]

The five fundamental two-dimensional Bravais lattices: 1 oblique, 2 rectangular, 3 centered rectangular, 4
hexagonal (rhombic), and 5 square. In addition to the stated conditions, the centered rectangular lattice fulfills
. This orthogonality condition leads to the rectangular pattern indicated and implies
.

Bravais lattices in 3 dimensions

In three-dimensional space, there are 14 Bravais lattices. These are obtained by combining one of the
seven lattice systems (or axial systems) with one of the seven lattice types (or lattice centerings). In
general, the lattice systems can be characterized by their shapes according to the relative lengths of
the cell edges (a, b, c) and the angles between them (, , ). The lattice types identify the locations
of the lattice points in the unit cell as follows:
Primitive (P): lattice points on the cell corners only (sometimes called simple)
Body-Centered (I): lattice points on the cell corners with one additional point at the center of the
cell
Face-Centered (F): lattice points on the cell corners with one additional point at the center of each
of the faces of the cell
Base-Centered (A, B, or C): lattice points on the cell corners with one additional point at the center
of each face of one pair of parallel faces of the cell (sometimes called end-centered)

Rhombohedral (R): lattice points on the cell corners only where a = b = c and = = 90 (special
case for the rhombohedral lattice system)
Not all combinations of lattice systems and lattice types are needed to describe all of the possible
lattices. If we consider R equivalent to P, then there are in total 7 6 = 42 combinations, but it can be
shown that several of these are in fact equivalent to each other. For example, the monoclinic I lattice
can be described by a monoclinic C lattice by dierent choice of crystal axes. Similarly, all A- or Bcentred lattices can be described either by a C- or P-centering. This reduces the number of
combinations to 14 conventional Bravais lattices, shown in the table below. The rhombohedral lattice
is ocially assigned as type R in order to distinguish it from the hexagonal lattice in the trigonal
crystal system. However, for simplicity this lattice is often shown as type P.

The 7 lattice systems

The 14 Bravais lattices

P

Base Base

P
Triclinic

Monoclinic

Orthorhombic

Tetragonal

R or P
Rhombohedral

P
Hexagonal

P (pcc)

I (bcc)

F (fcc)

Cubic

The volume of the unit cell can be calculated by evaluating ||a b c||, where a, b, and c are the lattice
vectors. The volumes of the Bravais lattices are given below:
Lattice system
Triclinic
Monoclinic
Orthorhombic
Tetragonal
Rhombohedral
Hexagonal
Cubic

Volume

Centred Unit Cells :

Lattice

Possible Variations

System
Cubic

Tetragonal

Orthorhombic

Hexagonal

Primitive, Body-centred, Facecentred

Primitive, Body-centred
Primitive, Body-centred, Facecentred, Base-centred

Axial Distances
(edge lengths)
a=b=c

a=bc

abc

Primitive

a=bc

Rhombohedral Primitive

a=b=c

Monoclinic

Primitive, Base-centred

abc

Triclinic

Primitive

abc

Axial Angles

Corresponding
Examples

===

NaCl, Zinc Blende,

90

Cu

===

White tin, SnO2,

90

TiO2, CaSO4

===

Rhombic sulfur,

90

KNO3, BaSO4

= = 90,
= 120

Graphite, ZnO, CdS

==

Calcite (CaCO3),

90

Cinnabar (HgS)

= = 90, Monoclinic sulfur,

90

Na2SO4.10H2O

K2Cr2O7,
90

CuSO4.5H2O, H3BO3

Bravais lattices in 4 dimensions

In four dimensions, there are 64 Bravais lattices. Of these, 23 are primitive and 41 are centered. Ten
Bravais lattices split into enantiomorphic pairs.[3]

See also
Translational symmetry
Lattice (group)
classification of lattices
Miller Index
Translation operator (quantum mechanics)

References

1. ^ Aroyo, Mois I.; Ulrich Mller; Hans Wondratschek (2006). "Historical Introduction" . International
Tables for Crystallography (Springer) A1 (1.1): 25. doi:10.1107/97809553602060000537 . Retrieved
2008-04-21.
2. ^ Kittel, Charles (1996) [1953]. "Chapter 1". Introduction to Solid State Physics

(Seventh ed.). New

York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 10. ISBN 0-471-11181-3. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
3. ^ Brown, Harold; Blow, Rolf; Neubser, Joachim; Wondratschek, Hans; Zassenhaus, Hans (1978),
Crystallographic groups of four-dimensional space, New York: Wiley-Interscience [John Wiley & Sons],
ISBN 978-0-471-03095-9, MR 0484179

Further reading
Bravais, A. (1850). "Mmoire sur les systmes forms par les points distribus rgulirement sur
un plan ou dans l'espace". J. Ecole Polytech. 19: 1128. (English: Memoir 1, Crystallographic Society of
America, 1949.)
Hahn, Theo, ed. (2002). International Tables for Crystallography, Volume A: Space Group
Symmetry

A (5th ed.). Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1107/97809553602060000100 .

ISBN 978-0-7923-6590-7.

External links
Catalogue of Lattices (by Nebe and Sloane)
Smith, Walter Fox (2002). "The Bravais Lattices Song" .