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I am currently trying to understand why and how reciprocal lattice relates to the diffraction plane, so I did some research on Wiki about reciprocal lattice, but I seem to be stuck as I would like to be able to draw a diagram of a reciprocal lattice but can't seem to visualize how. I am okay with the Miller indices and primitive vectors, but I am not entirely sure if I am supposed to use these in a 2d space or 3d space to draw for the reciprocal lattice.

What more confusing is the BCC lattice are 3d and I am not sure if I am supposed to drawing 2d first then use the vectors and draw the reciprocal, it seems very muddling and would just like a place to start. Could anyone offer any advice?

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    $\begingroup$ How do you draw a real-space lattice structure? Take a real-space Bravais lattice. Construct the reciprocal lattice from the standard formulas - this will also be a Bravais lattice by definition. Figure out how to draw the reciprocal space Bravais lattice with appropriate artistic touches (I'm terrible at that part). Note that the reciprocal lattice of bcc is an fcc lattice (and vice versa). $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 14:39

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As far as I have known,one constructs an ewald sphere in reciprocal lattice with its radius being 1/(incident wavelength).The points which lie on the sphere correspond to the different planes which diffract in the crystal' real space.

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This is probably too late for you now, but I'll provide some info in case anyone else needs it.

I define a (real space) lattice using $$\mathbf R_{[m_1,m_2]}=m_1\mathbf a_1+m_2\mathbf a_2.$$ Here $\mathbf a_i$ are the lattice basis vectors. I used two dimensions but this is easily generalized. I can now create lattice of delta functions using $$\rho(\mathbf x)=\sum_\mathbf {R}\delta(\mathbf x-\mathbf R),$$ where $\mathbf R$ is in the lattice. I can easily create more intricate patterns by convolving this lattice with some other compact function: $\rho'=f*\rho$. Here $f(x)$ is a function that fits within one unit cell and is zero everywhere else. The result is $f$ repeated at every unit cell.

Let's now look at the Fourier transform of this lattice: \begin{align}\mathcal F_{\mathbf k}\left[\rho(\mathbf x)\right]&=\int\mathrm d \mathbf x\, e^{i\mathbf k\cdot\mathbf x}\rho(\mathbf x)\\ &=\sum_{\mathbf R}e^{i\mathbf k\cdot\mathbf R} \end{align} Without a proof, we can see that this sum goes to infinity whenever $\mathbf k\cdot \mathbf R=2\pi$. It will go to zero everywhere else. So, relying on intuition, the result is again a lattice of delta functions, with a delta function or every k-vector where $\mathbf k\cdot \mathbf R=2\pi$. This happens for all points of the form $$G_{(n_1,n_2)}=n_1\mathbf b_1+n_2\mathbf b_2,$$ where $\mathbf b_i$ are the reciprocal basis vectors, defined using $$\mathbf a_i\cdot \mathbf b_j=2\pi\delta_{ij}$$

To calculate these vectors explicitly, it is insightful to collect these basis vectors into a matrix: \begin{align} &A_{ij}=(\mathbf a_i)_j\\ &B_{ij}=(\mathbf b_i)_j, \end{align} which you should read as the $j$-th component of the $i$-th basis vector. Our definition of the basis vectors can now be written as $$AB^T=2\pi 1\!\!1$$ such that $B$ is given by $$B=2\pi (A^{-1})^T.$$

Once you have the reciprocal basis vectors, drawing the reciprocal lattice should be straightforward. Is your real lattice 3D? Then the reciprocal lattice is as well. Drawing in 3D by hand might be hard, in that case you could draw them using any software that can draw 3D points: Python, geogebra, Mathematica, Matlab, Desmos. Make an array of points with $n_1, n_2, n_3$ varying over a range of numbers and then plot those. Try to keep the numbers small, because the number of points quickly blows up.

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