Diffraction from Crystals

Abstract

Chapters 5–7 are concerned with the angular dependence of the diffracted wave, ψ(Δk), emitted from different arrangements of atoms. The underlying mechanism is coherent elastic scattering from individual atoms, the topic of Chap. 3. Diffraction itself, however, is a cooperative phenomenon based on phase relationships between the wavelets1 scattered coherently by the individual atoms. This chapter explains how a translationally-periodic arrangement of atoms in a crystal permits strong constructive interferences between individual wavelets, creating the familiar Bragg diffractions.