Thulium (Tm) doped barium yttrium ytterbium fluoride (BaYYbF8:Tm) thin films have been deposited on (100) silicon (Si) or (100) and (111) gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. When deposited on (100) Si, with an intermediate amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer, the BaYYbF8:Tm film was found to be polycrystalline, crystallizing in a previously unobserved cubic phase with a lattice constant a = 11.4208 (9) Å . Films deposited on GaAs, with an intermediate calcium fluoride (CaF2) layer, showed a high degree of planar orientation. Pole figure analysis revealed that the BaYYbF8:Tm films deposited on CaF2/GaAs are in-plane aligned dependent upon the substrate orientation.

Quantisation of low-quartz in crystalline mixtures has been performed by X-ray powder diffractometry (XRPD) for many years. Conventional methodology, using discrete-peak integrated intensities, is frequently performed employing calibrations prepared with natural low-quartz specimens. Previous research showed that from a conventional XRPD study of low-quartz specimens, the amorphous content of a suite of natural low-quartz specimens ranged from 1% to 28%. That study thereby underlined the importance in XRPD calibration of characterising the amorphous content (or its complementary quantity “weight fraction of crystalline material, WCFM” employed here). This paper describes an application of pattern-fitting Rietveld analysis for characterising the WCFM in a suite of low-quartz specimens. The results gave WCFM values ranging from 0.91 (esd, σ= 0.02) to 1.00(0.02) for six specimens for which the SiO2chemical content ≥ 99.5%.

Two compounds, [Co(NH3)5CO3]NO3·1/2H2O (labeled A) and [Co(NH3)4CO3]NO3·1/2H2O (labeled B), were obtained and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction. The samples were indexed using the programs TREOR90 and DICVOL91. In a monoclinic setting, the cell parameters are a=7.6661(3) Å, b=9.6212(3) Å, c=7.0725(4) Å, β=106.261(4)°, V=500.78 Å3, M20=36, F30=65 (0.0106, 44) for A and a=10.5623(5) Å, b=22.7304(18) Å, c=7.5174(5) Å, β=91.350(5)°, V=1804.31 Å3, M20=36, F30=82 (0.0071, 52) for B. The space group is probably P21/m(11) for A and P21/n(14) for B according to their reflection conditions.

Powder X-ray diffraction data are reported for La1−xSrxCo0.8Fe0.2O3 (x=0.2, 0.4) and La0.8Ba0.2Co0.8Fe0.2O3. The powders were prepared by thermal decomposition of metal-containing complex solutions. All compositions have rhombohedral unit cells. In hexagonal setting, the cell parameters are a=5.4451(2) Å, c=13.2553(2) Å for La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3; a=5.4556(3) Å, c=13.1999(2) Å for La0.8Sr0.2Co0.8Fe0.2O3 and a=5.4795(1) Å, c=13.2983(5) Å for La0.8Ba0.2Co0.8Fe0.2O3. The space group is probably R3c (167) for all three compositions.

The structure of Co2Al5 (hP28, P63/mmc) was refined by means of Rietveld method. The shortest Co–Al distance amounts 2.338 Å. Co2Al5 shows a homogeneity range between Co29Al71 and Co27.5Al72.5 at 1125 K. The concentration dependence of lattice parameters was also measured. The axial ratio c/a increases with increasing mole fraction of aluminum.

Two new compounds TlBeXO4 (X = P, As) have been synthesized by solid state reaction. Single crystals were obtained. These compounds are isotypic, space group Pna21, Z = 4. Unit-cell parameters were determined. Powder diffraction data for each phase are reported.

A new compound—Ba3MnSi2O8 in the system BaO–MnO–SiO2 was synthesized and studied by powder X-ray diffraction. The compound is hexagonal, space group—P6/mmm, a=5.67077 Å, c=7.30529 Å, Z=1, Dx=5.353. The obtained powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD) data were interpreted by the Powder Data Interpretation Package.

An attachment for commercial X-ray powder diffractometers is described. The device is made of four different parts that are largely independent of each other, and can be freely interchanged or replaced, and aligned independently. It can be home-built, or modified, with high flexibility according to user requirements, and has been tested on different problems concerning high-temperature phase transitions and solid-state reactions up to 1200 °C under vacuum, under inert gas or under various oxygen partial pressures. Examples are given of possible designs of the various parts.

A novel approach to the determination of crystallite size and lattice strain by means of Total Pattern Analysis is described. Parameters to define the position, magnitude, breadth and shape of individual peaks are obtained by an adaptation of the pattern fitting program of Sonneveld and Visser (J. Appl. Cryst. 8, 1–7, 1975). A rapid assessment of the nature of the specimen broadening is given by a Williamson-Hall Plot. This leads to a more detailed study of line breadths by, for example, Voigt analysis applied to several orders of reflections or to single lines. Preliminary results are given for the application of this procedure to ‘size only’ and ‘size-strain’ samples of ZnO.

We have calculated X-ray powder-diffraction data for schoepite, [(UO2)8O2(OH)12](H2O)12, using unit-cell and atomic parameters from the crystal structure (a 14.337, b 16.813, c 14.781, Z=4, Dx=4.87 gcm−3). Schoepite crystallizes in space group P21ca but is strongly pseudo- centrosymmetric, and observed reflections (Irel>0.1%) conform to space group Pbca. The six strongest reflections for schoepite are [d(Å), hkl (relative intensity)] 7.365, 002 (100), 3.253, 242 (55), 3.626, 240 (36), 3.223, 402 (25), 3.683, 004 (20), 2.584, 244 (18). The calculated intensities of reflections that distinguish space group Pbca from space group Pbna (the space group of metaschoepite), i.e., h0l with h odd and l even, are weak, and may not be evident in experimental powder patterns. The a axis of schoepite (14.34 Å) is significantly longer than that of synthetic metaschoepite (13.98 Å), and the two phases can best be distinguished by their unit-cell parameters. However, potential overlap of the strongest reflections can make identification and unit-cell determination difficult, especially for fine-grained material. Natural samples commonly contain intergrowths of schoepite, metaschoepite, and dehydrated schoepite. The calculated powder pattern for schoepite agrees well with data reported for natural schoepite (PDF 13-241) but shows discrepancies with the data from synthesis products. Data for “synthetic schoepite” indicate that this product was a mixture. Powder data labeled “paraschoepite” in the Powder Diffraction File do not correspond to the mineral of that name.

The device developed here for XRD analysis is built on a Guinier–Lenné geometry camera. A monochromatized and focused beam goes through the plastic Li-ion cell protected by a metal–plastic laminate. Each layer of the cell produces diffracted beams that are collected by an X-ray film on the focus circle. The film is continuously moved up (1–2 mm/h) while the Li-ion cell is charged and discharged, and controlled by means of the Mac-pile system. This system allows the control of intercalation rate either in potentiostatic mode or in galvanostatic mode (Mac Pile, Bio-Logic SA, Claix, France). The crystallographic behavior of both plastic electrodes can be simultaneously and continuously observed under the real conditions of a commercial battery. LixNiO2 and C graphite as positive and negative electrodes are given as an example, respectively. Structural and chemical parameters evolving from the two electrodes can easily be correlated with the cycling curves. Studies can also be performed from room temperature up to 100 °C.

The texture index introduced by Harris (1952) is reconsidered from the point of view of the orientation distribution of crystallites in a flat powder specimen. It is shown that the texture index can be used as an approximate measure of texture degree or as a texture correction factor in cases of a weak texture. Its failure in both these aspects for the strong textures is caused by an incorrect averaging of pole densities contained in the original definition of this quantity.

A comprehensive study of SrRuO3 thin films growth on (001) MgO substrates by pulsed laser deposition in a wide oxygen pressure range from 10 to 300 mTorr was carried out. The experimental results showed a correlation between the lattice constants, resistivity, and oxygen partial pressures used. Ru deficiency detected only in films deposited at lower oxygen pressures (<50 mTorr), resulted in an elongation of the in-plane and out-of-plane lattice constants and an increase in the film resistivity. When deposited with oxygen partial pressure of 50 mTorr, SrRuO3 films had lattice parameters matching those of bulk SrRuO3 material and exhibited room temperature resistivity of 320 μΩ·cm. The resistivity of SrRuO3/MgO films decreased with increasing oxygen partial pressure.