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Advanced Certificate in Powder Diffraction
on the Web
Chapter 2 School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, University of London |
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Advanced Certificate in Powder Diffraction
on the Web
Chapter 2 School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, University of London |
Welcome Page
Course Index
Master Index
Chapter Index
Aims & Objectives
The aim of this chapter is to provide a gentle introduction to the general concepts and background behind powder diffraction. Specific objectives are:
This is gained from a brief look at how powder diffraction started ("In the Beginning") and its subsequent developments ("Landmarks").
One of the problems of starting a new subject like powder diffraction is that each basic topic requires knowledge of all the others; it would seem that you need to learn some 5 or 6 concepts simultaneously. The vicious circle is broken by taking some concepts "on trust" during the early explanations. The 4 sections, "What is Diffraction"; "What is a Powder?"; "What is Powder Diffraction?"; "Bragg's Law", thus explain the basic ideas in a qualitative and ab-initio style.
The road to understanding powder diffraction has a number of forks where decisions to go one way or the other might seem arbitrary or non-obvious at the time. Some of these choices are explained in: "Laue versus Monochromatic methods"; "Single Crystal versus Powder Specimens".
This being the first section on powder diffraction topics, a substantial set of hyper-links have been provided to give access to further information, communication and opportunity (the sub-headings are self-explanatory). Whilst the list is by no means exhaustive, we feel we should warn you that it is very easy to spend all your time browsing through these links and not getting anywhere on the powder diffraction course material. Consider these links to be your "web library": one usually goes to a technical library only to get additional information on specific points; use these links in the same restricted way.
Welcome Page
Course Index
Master Index
Chapter Index
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