Homometric structures

In chemistry and crystallography, structures of identical atoms that are characterized by the same set of interatomic distances are defined as homometric structures.^[1] Homometric crystal structures produce identical diffraction patterns; therefore, they cannot be distinguished by a diffraction experiment.

Recently, a Monte Carlo algorithm was proposed to calculate the number of homometric structures corresponding to any given set of interatomic distances.^[2]

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  Example of two homometric structures (top) formed by the convolution between two non-centrosymmetric structures (bottom) with different orientations.

See also

• Patterson function
• Arthur Lindo Patterson

Notes

1. ↑ Patterson, A.L. (1939). "Homometric Structures". Nature. 143 (3631): 939–940. doi:10.1038/143939b0. 
2. ↑ Gommes C.J.; Jiao Y; Torquato S (2012). "Density of States for a Specified Correlation Function and the Energy Landscape". Phys. Rev. Lett. 108: 080601. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.080601.