X-ray diffraction limitation

Muscle force generation is believed to arise from the formation of crossbridge bonds between thick and thin myofilaments within the basic building block of muscle, the sarcomere. These structures, in the nanometer to micrometer range, must be viewed by electron microscopy or x-ray diffraction, limiting study to fixed, dead material. Consequently, muscle contraction at the sarcomere level must be described by models that integrate metabolic and structural information. 

T. Ishikawa, K. Yamauchi, 2005, Hard X-ray Diffraction-Limited Nanofocus-ing with Kirkpatrick—Baez Mirrors ,... 

Illuminating the sample at grazing angles. The penetration depth of photons depends on the cosine of the incidence angle and, therefore, can be reduced by this procedure. Although such an approach has limited use, it has been successfully employed in a few instances, such as for x-ray diffraction experiments. 

EXAFS is a nondestructive, element-specific spectroscopic technique with application to all elements from lithium to uranium. It is employed as a direct probe of the atomic environment of an X-ray absorbing element and provides chemical bonding information. Although EXAFS is primarily used to determine the local structure of bulk solids (e.g., crystalline and amorphous materials), solid surfaces, and interfaces, its use is not limited to the solid state. As a structural tool, EXAFS complements the familiar X-ray diffraction technique, which is applicable only to crystalline solids. EXAFS provides an atomic-scale perspective about the X-ray absorbing element in terms of the numbers, types, and interatomic distances of neighboring atoms. 

Pressure-induced phase transitions in the titanium dioxide system provide an understanding of crystal structure and mineral stability in planets interior and thus are of major geophysical interest. Moderate pressures transform either of the three stable polymorphs into the a-Pb02 (columbite)-type structure, while further pressure increase creates the monoclinic baddeleyite-type structure. Recent high-pressure studies indicate that columbite can be formed only within a limited range of pressures/temperatures, although it is a metastable phase that can be preserved unchanged for years after pressure release Combined Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction studies 6-8,10 ave established that rutile transforms to columbite structure at 10 GPa, while anatase and brookite transform to columbite at approximately 4-5 GPa. 

Crystals have definite geometric forms because the atoms or ions present are arranged in a definite, three-dimensional pattern. The nature of this pattern can be deduced by a technique known as x-ray diffraction. Ihe basic information that comes out of such studies has to do with the dimensions and geometric form of the unit cell, the smallest structural unit that, repeated over and over again in three dimensions, generates the crystal In all, there are 14 different kinds of unit cells. Our discussion will be limited to a few of the simpler unit cells found in metals and ionic solids. 

Finally, to evaluate the membranes, analysis such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, TEM and light scattering were performed at the School of Mineral and Material Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia. The last part of the work, testing the produced membrane to remove emulsifier oil from domestic wastewater, was accomplished on a limited budget. An experimental rig and membrane module were required. Also the need for experimental data for the application of the supported membrane may show the real success of this project. 

As has been shown by the X-ray diffraction method the parent metals (i.e. Pd or Ni), the a-phase, and /3-phase all have the same type of crystal lattice, namely face centered cubic of the NaCl type. However, the /9-phase exhibits a significant expansion of the lattice in comparison with the metal itself. Extensive X-ray structural studies of the Pd-H system have been carried out by Owen and Williams (14), and on the Ni-H system by Janko (8), Majchrzak (15), and Janko and Pielaszek (16). The relevant details arc to be found in the references cited. It should be emphasized here, however, that at moderate temperatures palladium and nickel hydrides have lattices of the NaCl type with parameters respectively 3.6% and 6% larger than those of the parent metals. Within the limits of the solid solution the metal lattice expands also with increased hydrogen concentration, but the lattice parameter does not depart significantly from that of the pure metal (for palladium at least up to about 100°C). 

Silver acetylide decomposition was studied [679] by X-ray diffraction and microscopic measurements and, although the a—time relationship was not established, comparisons of intensities of diffraction lines enabled the value of E to be estimated (170 kj mole 1). The rate-limiting step is believed to involve electron transfer and explosive properties of this compound are attributed to accumulation of solid products which catalyze the decomposition (rather than to thermal deflagration). 

Baranowski [680] concluded that the decomposition of nickel hydride was rate-limited by a volume diffusion process the first-order equation [eqn. (15)] was obeyed and E = 56 kJ mole-1. Later, Pielaszek [681], using volumetric and X-ray diffraction measurements, concluded from observations of the effect of copper deposited at dislocations that transportation was not restricted to imperfect zones of the crystal but also occurred by diffusion from non-defective regions. The role of nickel hydride in catalytic processes has been reviewed [663]. 

The technique as we have described it works only for polar molecules, because only they can interact with microwave radiation. However, variations of these spectroscopic methods can be used to investigate nonpolar molecules, too. A major limitation of the technique is that only the spectra of simple molecules can be interpreted. For complex molecules, we use solid samples and x-ray diffraction techniques. 

The successful use of these X-ray crysallographic techniques in studying the enzyme-substrate interactions of lysozyme (21) and chymotrypsin (22) has recently been reviewed by Blow and Steitz (16) and Blow (23). To date, however, these methods have had only limited application, since the detailed structures of only about ten enzymes have been elucidated by X-ray diffraction... 

In recent years, high-resolution x-ray diffraction has become a powerful method for studying layered strnctnres, films, interfaces, and surfaces. X-ray reflectivity involves the measurement of the angnlar dependence of the intensity of the x-ray beam reflected by planar interfaces. If there are multiple interfaces, interference between the reflected x-rays at the interfaces prodnces a series of minima and maxima, which allow determination of the thickness of the film. More detailed information about the film can be obtained by fitting the reflectivity curve to a model of the electron density profile. Usually, x-ray reflectivity scans are performed with a synchrotron light source. As with ellipsometry, x-ray reflectivity provides good vertical resolution [14,20] but poor lateral resolution, which is limited by the size of the probing beam, usually several tens of micrometers. 

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