unit cell

noun

, Crystallography.

1. the simplest unit of a regular lattice.

unit cell

noun

1. crystallog the smallest group of atoms, ions, or molecules that is characteristic of a particular crystal lattice

Word History and Origins

Origin of unit cell¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Last week, a 34-year-old man was found unconscious in a medical unit cell at the jail, where he had been held since 2019.

From BBC

Ventura said that corrections officers found the unidentified man unresponsive in a single unit cell Tuesday at John J. Moran Medium Security facility.

From Washington Times

This halves the size of the Brillouin zone — a unit cell of the abstract ‘momentum space’ that is used to describe the properties of electrons in semiconductors.

From Nature

The atomic or molecular order in a crystal is defined by the unit cell, which is the smallest repeating unit of the crystal structure.

From Nature

These nanometre-scale potentials are caused by the layers having different orientations or lattice constants — parameters that describe the dimensions of a unit cell in a crystal lattice.

From Nature