Why the name Reciprocal lattice ?

[mkbh_10]

Why the name Reciprocal lattice ?? Is it because the dimensions get bigger & we are able to understand the structure on a macro level & removing the infinities that occur in h, k, l plane system ??

 

[kanato]

Look at the units, they are reciprocal of length. The reciprocal lattice vectors are defined by a_i \cdot g_j = 2\pi \delta_{i,j} so g has to have units that are the inverse of a, and the g vectors for a lattice.