In materials science, the Burgers vector , named after Dutch physicist Jan
Burgers, is a vector, often denoted as b , that represents the magnitude
and direction of the lattice distortion resulting from a dislocation in a
crystal lattice.
The vector's magnitude and direction is best understood when the dislocation-
bearing crystal structure is first visualized without the dislocation, that
is, the perfect crystal structure. In this perfect crystal structure, a
rectangle whose lengths and widths are integer multiples of a (the unit cell
edge length) is drawn encompassing the site of the original dislocation's
origin. Once this encompassing rectangle is drawn, the dislocation can be
introduced.