X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a non-invasive method for determining that can be used in phase analysis investigations of crystalline materials. Image Credit: AgriTech/Shutterstock.com The essential idea ...

Electron diffraction is a powerful analytical technique used to study the atomic structure of materials. It involves the interaction of a beam of electrons with a crystalline sample, resulting in a ...

Scientists have demonstrated that atoms can exhibit wave-like behavior, challenging long-held assumptions that experiments of this nature were impossible and opening new doors in quantum physics. The ...

Using ultrahigh-intensity x-ray beams can cause the intensity of diffraction patterns from samples to drop Figure 1: An x-ray diffraction pattern obtained from a sample of Martian soil. X-ray ...

When a laser beam is incident on a narrow opaque object such as a fine wire or a strand of hair, the resulting diffraction pattern is similar to the diffraction pattern of a slit of the same width as ...

Ptychography is an area-by-area scanning method that uses constant, coherent illumination to scan a region of a sample in several adjacent and overlapping locations. The dispersed radiation is ...

At the smallest scales of nature, the rules of the world shift in ways that can feel unsettling and beautiful at the same ...

I learned in October 2022’s Breakthrough that the spikes of stars in high-power photos are called diffraction spikes. Why do they appear as two crosses at 45 degrees to each other? The diffraction ...