Single crystal

A single crystal is a crystalline specimen whose ordered structure has one continuous crystallographic orientation, rather than being divided into differently oriented crystal grains. It can still contain dislocations, impurities and other defects; the term does not mean an absolutely perfect lattice.

A diffraction pattern from one well-oriented specimen resolves its crystallographic directions, while rotating it changes which reflections are observed. Mechanical or thermal measurements along different directions can reveal intrinsic anisotropy that would be averaged over many orientations in a polycrystalline material. The absence of internal grain boundaries also changes transport and deformation mechanisms that depend on those boundaries. A specimen's outline is not the criterion: cutting a piece from a single crystal changes its external shape without necessarily changing its internal crystallographic identity.