Determining the Bravais lattice using a single electron backscatter diffraction pattern

The ab initio derivation of the Bravais lattice from the Kikuchi bands detected from a single electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) pattern is successfully performed. The as-measured band widths and azimuths always suffer from gnomonic distortions which need to be corrected. A primitive reciprocal cell is first reconstructed by means of the corrected data and the cell parameters are then refined by least-squares analysis of hugely over-determined equations. This allows one to further derive a Niggli reduced cell from the primitive cell. The algorithm presented is not related to any crystal symmetry information and is therefore applicable to all crystal systems. The feasibility of the determination of the Bravais lattice type and parameters from a single EBSD pattern is demonstrated using a mineral sample without any a priori information about its crystal structure. The novel application developed in the present work opens the way to the determination of the Bravais lattice of crystalline materials using scanning electron microscopy combined with the EBSD technique.