X-Ray Methods

There are three different experimental methods for x-ray diffraction that we are going to look at: The
Laue method, the rotating crystal method and the powder (Debye-Scherrer method! To help explain
each method, the illuminating and "ery helpful #wald construction will be explained!
The #wald construction is a simple geometric construction to aid in "isuali$ing the direction of
allowable diffracted x-rays! %t is set up by drawing the incoming wa"e "ector of the x-ray on the
reciprocal space which has the reciprocal lattice points! The incoming x-ray wa"e "ector is drawn such
that it starts at the origin of the reciprocal space and is of course is in the direction of the incident x-
ray! Then a circle with a radius e&ual to the magnitude of the incoming x-ray wa"e "ector is drawn
with its center at the endpoint of the incoming x-ray wa"e "ector as shown in the figure below! 'or an
allowable diffracted wa"e to exist, the diffracted wa"e "ector must be e&ual in magnitude but in a
direction such that k-k=K, or the difference of incoming and outgoing wa"e"ectors must e&ual a
reciprocal lattice "ector! This is a "ery restricti"e condition and only reciprocal lattice points that lie on
the edge of this circle will satisfy this condition! This is all shown in the figure below in which only
one scattered x-ray is satisfies this condition and is therefore present!







The Laue Method

The Laue method eases the restriction of illustrated by the figure abo"e by using a range of
wa"elengths for the incoming x-rays! (ence the ewald construction is modified as follows!


)here x-rays of wa"e "ector k
o
through k
1
are incident on the crystal at the same angle of incidence!
The figure shows the small circle of radius k
o
and the large circle of radius k
*
! +ll of the reciprocal
lattice points in the shaded section will satisfy the diffraction condition and you will ha"e many
diffracted x-rays! %n the figure abo"e, there will be *, diffracted wa"es!

Rotating Crystal and Debye-Scherrer Method

%n the rotating crystal method, there is only one wa"elength for the incoming x-rays but the
crystal is rotated and hence the reciprocal lattice is rotated! This allows for more reciprocal lattice
points to satisfy the diffraction conditions! The extreme of this is when you rotate the crystal o"er all
possible angles such as you would ha"e if you had a polycrystalline material where the grains are
oriented in all directions! 'or example, if you crushed the crystal into small pieces, the incoming x-
rays would pass through crystals that are oriented in all directions, hence the reciprocal lattice is rotated
in all directions as illustrated in the following figure!

'or real -D crystals, there will be diffaction cones as illustrated in the following figure:


.y measuring the angle between the incoming and outgoing wa"e"ectors, you can calculate the
magnitude of the reciprocal lattice "ectors!


The x-ray intensity cones are recorded on film as shown below: