Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-condensed-matter-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/1/b/solution

The cubic Miller indices give an interplanar spacing . Equivalently, the reciprocal lattice vector normal to these lattice planes has length . Hence
The eight reciprocal lattice vectors are the nearest nonzero reciprocal points. Their perpendicular bisectors form the eight hexagonal faces of the first Brillouin zone, a truncated octahedron. For the positive direction, that Bragg plane is , or . It is parallel to the direct lattice planes. The six remaining square zone faces correspond to the reciprocal points. The zone boundary is halfway to a reciprocal point, not the point itself.

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