2D Archimedean tiling

Let us consider the simple 2D Archimedean tiling shown below.

b2
â2
â1 b1

For each (blue) hexagonal element, the lattice sites can be described by base vectors a1 and a2
where
ˆ 1 = ax
ˆ a 3
a ˆ2 =
a ˆ ±a
x ˆ
y
2 2
then every translation can be written as
r =ma
ˆ 1 +n a
ˆ2
where m = -1,0,1
n = -1,0,1 and
|m + n| ≤ 1 or put another way m2 + n2 ≤ 1.

The translational symmetry between the blue hexagonal elements can be summarized by
ˆ +q b
r′ = p b ˆ
1 2

where p, q = 0, ± 1, ± 2, … and the base vectors are given by

ˆ =b 3 b ˆ = by
b 1
ˆ+ y
x ˆ b 2
ˆ
2 2
where b is ( 3 +1 )a.
From this we can describe any direct lattice vector R as
 3 a  b 3
R =r ′+r = p b +ma +n xˆ +p +qb +na yˆ
 2 2  2 2 
 15

10

0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15

-5

-10

-15

The reciprocal lattice vectors ki are given by

e iK •R =1

This means that

K • R = 2π{k x R x + k y R y } = 2πn

which leads us to
i j
kx = and k y = R
Rx y

where i, j are integers.

To find the dispersion relation, we seek solutions to the equations of motion of the form
u( R , t ) = g e i {k ⋅R −ωt }