Advanced Certificate in Powder Diffraction on the Web Chapter 4 School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, University of London

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Aims & Objectives

The aim of this chapter is to provide some basic understanding of how a synchrotron works and how its properties are harnessed for powder diffraction.

Specific objectives are:

• The Synchrotron

  A background description is given to the "rise of the synchrotron" with an explanation of why synchrotrons have multiplied over the last 20 years. You will learn about their basic mode of operation and the properties of their remarkable radiation.

• Squeezing the Most from a Synchrotron

  You will learn how the X-ray beams produced by synchrotrons can be optimised for powder diffraction by the use of insertion devices and beam conditioners.

• The Synchrotron and Powder Diffraction

  You will learn how powder diffraction exploits the synchrotron source by reference to 5 prototypical designs of powder diffractometer and their modes of operation:

  • Mode 1;
  • Mode 2;
  • Mode 3;
  • Mode 4;
  • Mode 5.
• Data Acquisition

  While data acquisition with a synchrotron powder diffractometer may be similar in some aspects to that of the laboratory machine, in other aspects it is certainly very different. In particular, you will learn how energy-dispersive instruments are calibrated, how the fixed detector angle can be optimised for d spacing range at the expense of peak resolution, and how energy-dispersive diffraction data compare to those obtained in the laboratory.

External Links

On this occasion a fair number of external links have indeed been provided to give access to the web sites of some modern synchrotron sources. This gives a good idea of the world distribution of synchrotron sources but, as always with links, it is easy to spend too much time on them. It is useful to get some ideas about world synchrotron sources, but don't take it too far.

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