SOLVED EXAMPLES: MILLER INDICES

Q) Determine the Miller indices of a plane that makes intercepts of 4Å, 3Å and 8Å on the
coordinate axes of an orthorhombic lattice with the ratio of the axial lengths as:
a:b:c=2:3:1

A) This problem is about the very basic definition of Miller indices and how to derive them.
X Y Z
Intercepts 4Ǻ 3Ǻ 8Ǻ
Lattice parameters 2x 3x 1x
4 3 8
Ratio
2x 3x 1x
x x
Reciprocal x
2 8
1 1
Factoring common factors 1
2 8
Integer form (4 8 1)

Q) What are the miller indices of the line of intersection of a (1 11) and (1 1 1) plane in a
cubic crystal?
A) We shall arrive at the solution by a geometrical method and by an analytical method.
Geometrical Method
Note: (1 1 1) �(111) , (1 11) �(11 1)
Analytical Method-1
Weiss zone law states that if a direction [u v w] is contained in plane (h k l) then:
hu  kv  lw  0

Let [u v w] be the intersection of (1 11) and (1 1 1)

(1 11) � -u - v  w  0 �
� w0 �
& �� � the indices of the direction are of the form [u u 0] .
� u  -v �
(1 1 1) � -u - v - w  0 �

As miller indices are written after factoring out common factors the miller indices are: [1 10]
or the opposite direction [ 1 10] .

Analytical Method-2
Using equation of a line in intercept form (a, b, c are intercepts along x, y, z axis
respectively):
x y z
   1 . Substituting the intercepts for the two planes and solving simultaneously we
a b c
get the equation for the line of intersection:

- x - y  z  1
 - 2x - 2 y  2
- x - y - z  1
x  y  -1  y  - x - 1 (slope = -1 and intercept = -1)