Miller indices of a BCC structure

Question

The miller indices of the middle plane is $(2,0,0)$ and it's easy to see why it's so but I've read that one should reduce the Miller indices down to lower integers so the miller Indices of this middle plane should be $(1,0,0)$. If that's so why does the author use $(2,0,0)$ to designate the plane?

Answer 1

This is because the $(1 0 0)$ planes do not represent a true set of lattice planes. A true lattice plane is one whose successive stacking will generate the whole lattice.

Consider the two set of planes denoted by the Miller indices $(100)$ and $(200)$. The $(100)$ planes have a d spacing $d_{100}=a$ and you may think of them as the opposite faces of the cube. Now, if you calculate the d spacing for the $(200)$ planes, you get $d_{200}=\frac{a}{2}$ and you may think of these as the faces of the cube and another plane midway, justifiying the d spacing as $\frac{a}{2}$. However, the $(100)$ planes do not include all the lattice points in the crystal since you're missing out on the body centre points. Hence the $(200)$ set represents the true lattice planes.

Edit: I realise I've misunderstood your question. The $(200)$ and the $(100)$ planes are not equaivalent due to the discussion above.