Phase determination and structure refinement by density and shift functions

Any crystal structure may be described in terms of a sublattice of points, each of which represents a certain fraction of the electron density. Multiplying this sublattice by a density function f(x) and applying a shift function s(x), which brings the atoms into the right positions, the correct crystal structure can be given in many different ways. It is shown that the shift function s(x) yields phase relations between the structure factors F(h), which may be evaluated directly, if the coefficients of the Fourier representation of s(x) converge rapidly. This behaviour is demonstrated for the case of a one-dimensional acentric model structure consisting of 50 atoms. Complete information on the structure may be obtained by routine methods with the aid of 5 given phases of the structure factor. This procedure may also be applied to three-dimensional structures, if the corresponding computer programs are available.