Diffracting power of atoms

Recall that X rays are diffracted by the electrons that surround atoms, and that images obtained from X-ray diffraction show the surface of the electron clouds that surround molecules. Recall also that the X-ray diffracting power of elements in a sample increases with increasing atomic number. Neutrons are diffracted by nuclei, not by electrons. Thus a density map computed from neutron diffraction data is not an electon-density map, but instead a map of nuclear mass distribution, a "nucleon-density map" of the molecule (nucleons are the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei). 

In addition to the periodicity of the crystal lattice, there are other factors affecting the diffraction quality of the crystal, i.e. the type of the ordered atoms have a significant influence on the diffraction power of the crystal. The heavier (more electrons)... 

When x-ray or electron diffraction methods are used to study the nature of the binding forces in a crystal, it is desirable to know the influence on the scattering power of atoms of those changes in the spatial distribution of electrons which are due to the interaction between the particles forming the crystal lattice. 

The diffraction pattern consists of a small number of spots whose symmetry of arrangement is that of the surface grid of atoms (see Fig. IV-10). The pattern is due primarily to the first layer of atoms because of the small penetrating power of the low-energy electrons (or, in HEED, because of the grazing angle of incidence used) there may, however, be weak indications of scattering from a second or third layer. 

In a sense, a superconductor is an insulator that has been doped (contains random defects in the metal oxide lattice). Some of the defects observed via neutron diffraction experiments include metal site substitutions or vacancies, and oxygen vacancies or interstituals (atomic locations between normal atom positions). Neutron diffraction experiments have been an indispensable tool for probing the presence of vacancies, substitutions, or interstituals because of the approximately equal scattering power of all atoms. 

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