Observation of bands of faces on incommensurate Rb2ZnBr4 single crystals

The macroscopic consequences of displacive modulation on the morphology of incommensurate single crystals are confirmed. Bands of faces in the neighborhood of stable normal crystal faces have been observed on spherically shaped Rb2ZnBr4 crystals. An interpretation is given in terms of classical morphological theory extended to include (four-dimensional) superspace group symmetry. This leads to the view that the formation of these bands involves, at least partly, so-called satellite faces and gives a simple explanation of why the set of bands has a lower point-group symmetry than the set of normal faces.