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Introduction

  What is diffraction?     2 of 4
 

Single particle

To understand diffraction we have to consider what happens when a wave interacts with a single particle. The particle scatters the incident beam uniformly in all directions.

Have a go imageClick on the animation here to illustrate this.

 

Solid material

What happens if the beam is incident on solid material? If we consider a crystalline material, the scattered beams may add together in a few directions and reinforce each other to give diffracted beams.

have_a_go.gif (3415 bytes)Click on the animation here to illustrate this.


crystal image)

Crystalline material

A crystal is constructed of atoms or molecules arranged in a regular pattern in space. It is this regularity which is responsible for diffracted beams. If the arrangement of atoms was random then the scattered beams would randomly add together and also randomly cancel each other. They would not reinforce each other in any direction to give diffracted beams. This idea is explored in further detail in the next section entitled Geometry of Diffraction.

 

 
   Introduction  | Geometry | Intensity | X-ray Diffraction | Electron Diffraction 
 
 

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