Problem: Determine the reciprocal lattice of an FCC lattice!

Solution: Select a Cartesian coordinate system with unit vectors i,j and k! Position the
coordinate axes so that in this system one of the corners of the FCC unit cell will be at (0,0,0)
and the edges starting there lie in the positive i,j and k direction! Select the three a
1
a
2
and a
3
vectors to point to the center points lying on the three coordinate planes. With these notation
a
1
=
a
2
(i +k) , a
2
=
a
2
(i +j) , a
3
=
a
2
(j +k)
The formulae for the three recprocal vectors b
1
, b
2
and b
3

b
1
=2
a
2
x a
3
a
1
(a
2
x a
3
)

b
2
=2
a
3
x a
1
a
1
(a
2
x a
3
)

b
3
=2
a
1
x a
2
a
1
(a
2
x a
3
)

Determine first the denominator, which is the volume of the primitive cell
a
1
(a
2
x a
3
) =
a
2
(i +k)

a
2
(i +j) x
a
2
(j +k) =
a
3
8
( ) i +k ( ) i x j + i x k +j x j + j x k =
a
3
8
( ) i (i x j) + i (i x k) + i (j x k) + k(i x j) + k (i x k) + k (j x k) =
a
3
8
( ) i (j x k) + k(i x j)
Here we used the fact that i,j and k are perpendicular to each other. Furthermore we know that
i x j =k, j x k =i and k x i =j
so the denominator becomes
a
3
8
( ) i i + k k =
a
3
4

Now the nominators:
(a
2
x a
3
) =
a
2
(i +j) x
a
2
(j +k) =
a
2
4
( ) i x j + i x k +j x j + j x k =
a
2
4
( ) k j +i
(a
3
x a
1
) =
a
2
4
( ) i k +j
(a
3
x a
1
) =
a
2
4
( ) j i +k
which gives us the reciprocal base vectors:
b
1
=
2
a
( ) k j +i , b
2
=
2
a
( ) i k +j and b
3
=
2
a
( ) i k +j
These vectors correspond to the primitive vectors of a body centered cubic lettice in the
reciprocal lattice, because they point into the middle of 3 neighboring cubes with a side of
2
a

situated around the origin.