This is a substantially revised and expanded second edition of a book published in the

Concise series. The book has been considerably extended and a number of corrections

have been made to the text and diagrams. A new chapter (7) has also been added, on

distortion mode analysis. Many new diagrams have been added and the topics have been

explained more fully and with more attention to detail. This book starts with the crystallographer’s point of view of direct and reciprocal space and then proceeds to develop this in a form suitable for physics applications.

There are many books on condensed matter physics, written from the point of view of theoretical physicists. This book teaches the subject from the crystallographer’s perspective. The emphasis will be on the importance of underlying periodicity, which lies at the heart of understanding the solid state, but which is usually glossed over in the standard condensed matter texts.

Key Features:

1. Provides an understanding of crystal structures and importance in condensed matter physics


2. Emphasizes the symmetry aspects of condensed matter physics


3. Written in a pedagogical style


4. Contains a wide variety of illustrations.