Material science / crystallography / lattice topology

Crystal structure explorer

Inspect unit cells, symmetry families, coordination shells, and atomic packing in an interactive workspace built for materials analysis. Switch between lattice types, strain the cell, and read the crystallographic fingerprints without leaving the browser.

3D lattice projection
Structure presets
Coordination shells
Plane orientation
Responsive lab UI
Current structure
Face-centered cubic
High packing efficiency with 12 nearest neighbors and octahedral voids.
Lattice system
Cubic
Space group: Fm-3m
Packing factor
0.74
Comparative dense packing estimate from the active preset.
Unit cell volume
1.00 a³
Visualized volume updates with strain and c/a tuning.
Live rendering
Canvas + JavaScript
Orientation
[100] zone axis
Atoms in view
0 atoms
Active atom
Bond network
Unit-cell frame

Crystallographic signature

Neighbor shells, lattice metrics, and coordination cues for the current model.

fcc / cubic / dense packing

About Michael Nsengiyumva

Michael Nsengiyumva is the developer behind Crystal Structure Explorer, an interactive crystallography workspace for inspecting unit cells, symmetry families, coordination shells, and atomic packing directly in the browser. The project lets users move between lattice types — including face-centered cubic, body-centered cubic, and other dense metal, ionic, covalent, and perovskite structures — strain the cell, tune the c/a ratio, and view live 3D lattice projections rendered with canvas and JavaScript.

Built as a materials-science visualization tool, Crystal Structure Explorer combines front-end engineering with domain-specific crystallography concepts: space groups, packing factors, zone-axis camera presets, and neighbor-shell distance calculations. The interface is designed for quick structural comparison rather than exact diffraction-calculated geometry, making it useful for students, researchers, and anyone exploring lattice topology.

This site is one part of Michael Nsengiyumva's ongoing work at the intersection of software development and scientific visualization.