ABSTRACT
Parallelepiped that can be found by dividing space with three nonparallel sets of planes passing through the
lattice points
of a
crystal lattice
.
Unit cell is chosen so that it has the same macroscopic
symmetry elements
as the
crystal system
of the lattice concerned. The unit cell shape is characterized by
fundamental translation vectors
,
a
,
b
, and
c
, directed along the cell edges. The lengths of these vectors,
a
,
b
, and
c
, respectively, are called unit cell parameters (constants), and the angles between the edges, known as axial angles, are denoted by
α
,
β
, and
γ
(see Figure U.2).
