In trying to think of some way in which diffraction effects with X-rays might be found, and the question of their true nature answered, he [von Laue] came to the realization that Nature had provided, in a crystal, a diffraction grating exactly suited for that purpose.
William Lawrence Bragg, Nobel Lecture, 1922The first ten chapters of this book provide an in-depth description of the crystallographic concepts used to describe crystals and to perform crystallographic computations. Armed with these skills, we are now ready to begin a discussion of commonly used experimental X-ray diffraction methods. First, we will discuss what X-rays are and how we can generate them. Then, we will talk about the interaction of X-rays with crystal lattices and introduce the concept of diffraction. This will lead to Bragg's law, a central theorem for diffraction. We will convert Bragg's law from its usual direct space formulation to a reciprocal space form, and introduce a graphical tool, known as the Ewald sphere, to describe diffraction events. We conclude the chapter with a brief overview of a few commonly used experimental methods.
Properties and generation of X-rays
In this section, we will discuss some of the fundamental properties of X-rays, and show how we can generate X-rays experimentally. We will introduce the concept of a wave vector, and describe how one can experimentally select a particular wavelength.
Review the options below to login to check your access.
Log in with your Cambridge Aspire website account to check access.
If you believe you should have access to this content, please contact your institutional librarian or consult our FAQ page for further information about accessing our content.