Powder Diffraction - Stockholm University 2023

Date:                               February 16 - March 17, 2023
Course Code:                KZ8014
English Course Title:    Powder Diffraction with X-rays and
                                        Neutrons in Materials Chemistry
Credits:                          7,5 hp

Registration is closed!

Description: This course targets masters and PhD students in the fields of chemistry, physics, and engineering interested in learning and applying X-ray and neutron powder diffraction for materials analysis and characterization. The course constitutes a theory and a project part. The theory part repeats briefly principles of crystallography (description and analysis of crystal structures, symmetry, lattices and space groups) and principles of diffraction (single crystal and powder, nuclear and magnetic) and then focuses on the specifics of powder diffraction (background of patterns, peak positions and shape, indexing, intensity extraction, Rietveld refinement, etc.). The project part deals with the application of powder diffraction to real problems (data sets).

Learning goal: the student should obtain a good understanding of the principles of diffraction and the application of diffraction techniques for phase and structural analysis of crystalline materials. The aim of the project part is to provide the student with tools and experience to independently perform advanced analysis of powder diffraction data.

Course Schedule

Literature
Recommended literature includes:
Both books are available as e-books via the SU library.

• “Fundamentals of powder diffraction and structural characterization of materials” by V.K Pecharsky and P. Y. Zavalij. 2nd edition, 2006, Springer (ISBN: 978-0-387-09578-3).
• Some chapters will be taken from “Powder Diffraction, Theory and practice” by R.E. Dinnebier and S.J.L. Billinge, RSC publishing, 2008 (ISBN: 9778-0-85404-231-9).

Grading: Grading will be based on a written exam covering the contents of the lectures and an oral presentation of the project work.

Requirement: The student should possess basic knowledge of the crystalline state, crystal lattices, (space group) symmetry, systematic absences, as well as the fundamentals of diffraction as, for example, taught in the SU course “Structure analysis by diffraction” (KZ8013). Students should be familiar with crystal structure viewing programs like Diamond, Mercury, Crystal Maker or Vesta.