Can vesta create a heterostructure?

[Nick S]

Is it possible, using just VESTA, to create a heterostructure of two different crystal lattices?  For example, several unit cells of Si on GaP?

[Philip Howie]

Hi Nick,

Yes, you can do this.  Go to 'Edit | Edit Data | Phase...' and create two phases* - use the 'Unit cell' and 'Structure parameters' tabs to create the two structures (in this case, Si and GaP) as normal.  At this point, you will have one unit cell of each, sharing a common origin.  You can reposition and reorient the phases using the options on the 'Phase' tab and change the number of cells displayed by using the 'Boundary...' dialogue and choosing the relevant phase from the drop down list at the top.

Hope this helps,

Philip

* For some reason, renaming the phases by typing in the top box doesn't work - perhaps this is something Koichi can look into?  To rename a phase, double click on its 'Title' field until it becomes editable.

[Nick S]

Philip, thank you so much for the fast and useful reply!

This worked great, part of my problem was I was living with a 2.X version and needed to upgrade.  

One suggestion I have for Koichi is to make it possible to reorient (rotate, move) one phase relative to another using the mouse, rather than just having a xyz displacement and typing in the orientations/vectors. 

Cheers!

Nick