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The zero index

unit cell

 

What happens if we have a lattice plane that does not intercept all three axes?

Taking intercepts gives an h index of 1, a k index of 2, but what do we use for the l index?

unit cell

 

The plane can be said to intercept the z-axis at infinity.

In this case we use 0 for the Miller index, giving an index for this plane of:

(120)

unit cell
unit cell