journal menu
issue contents
 | JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY |
ISSN: 1600-5767
High-resolution X-ray diffraction and imaging special issue (June 2017)
Guest Editors: Virginie Chamard and Václav Holý
The articles in this virtual special issue of Journal of Applied Crystallography represent some highlights of the 13th Biennial Conference on High-Resolution X-ray Diffraction and Imaging (XTOP 2016). The topics of the published articles cover the broad spectrum of problems discussed during the conference, highlighting in particular four specific X-ray techniques: X-ray Bragg diffraction, small-angle scattering and reflectivity, X-ray diffraction imaging, and coherent (phase-sensitive) X-ray imaging. These open-access articles were originally published in the journal between April and June 2017.
Cover illustration: Some highlights from XTOP 2016. Images courtesy of Schmidbauer et al. [J. Appl. Cryst. (2017), 50, 519–524], Hagemann & Salditt [J. Appl. Cryst. (2017), 50, 531–538], Jiang et al. [J. Appl. Cryst. (2017), 50, 712–721] and Davtyan et al. [J. Appl. Cryst. (2017), 50, 673–680].
Open 
access
access
The latest virtual special issue of Journal of Applied Crystallography features some highlights of the 13th Biennial Conference on High-Resolution X-ray Diffraction and Imaging (XTOP 2016), held in Brno, Czech Republic, in September 2016.
Open access
access
Polar GaN layers containing domains with inverse polarities are studied by means of high-resolution X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It is shown how the presence of inversion domain boundaries can be recognized directly from reciprocal-space maps measured by X-ray diffraction.
Open access
access
Opportunities of multi-beam X-ray diffraction are demonstrated for determination of lattice strains in heterostructures and multi-layered systems.
Open access
access
A set of complementary methods (high-resolution X-ray reflectivity, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy) were used to study structural changes in the surface Si layer after high-dose low-energy (2 keV) He+ plasma-immersion ion implantation and subsequent thermal annealing. This combination is proved to be a powerful tool for complete structural diagnostics of nanoscale He+ ion implanted Si layers, especially in the ultra-low-energy implantation regime.
Open access
access
X-ray Bragg diffraction in sagittal geometry on a Y-cut langasite crystal (La3Ga5SiO14) modulated by Λ = 3 µm Rayleigh surface acoustic waves was studied at the BESSY II synchrotron radiation facility. The surface acoustic waves create a dynamical diffraction grating on the crystal surface, which can be used for space–time modulation of an X-ray beam.
Open access
access
X-ray phase measurements have been applied to study hydrogen bonds and radiation damage in amino acid crystals.
Open access
access
Extensive deformation of an iron alloy powder increases the static disorder contribution to the thermal factor, with an increase of ∼20% in the Debye–Waller coefficient observed by both X-ray diffraction and extended X-ray absorption fine structure. Molecular dynamics simulations shed light on the underlying mechanisms, confirming the major role played by the grain boundary.
Open access
access
Interfacial roughness is considered as a transition layer. A method of calculation of diffraction scans from multilayered structures with interfacial roughness, which is both fast and free of numerical errors, is developed.
Open access
access
Combined ultra-small-, small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS–SAXS–WAXS) provides in situ evaluation of the precipitate size distribution (PSD) and phase structure temporal evolution during heat treatment. A method for extraction of an arbitrary PSD in the presence of interparticle interactions is described and illustrated for study of PSD evolution.
Open access
access
This article describes interface-sensitive imaging of heterogeneous thin films by an image reconstruction aided X-ray reflectivity technique with an 8 mm-wide parallel beam; the possibility of extracting micro-X-ray reflectivity profiles from the same data collection is discussed.
Open access
access
X-ray diffraction imaging in both monochromatic and white beam section mode has been used to measure quantitatively the displacement and warpage stress in encapsulated silicon devices.
Open access
access
Bragg diffraction imaging techniques are described, and their capabilities for studying the quality of diamond substrates and overgrown layers, and the surface damage caused by mechanical polishing, are illustrated by examples.
Open access
access
The practical application of the modified Berg–Barrett topographic method in a skew asymmetric scheme of X-ray diffraction is presented. The method is used for the study of the defect structure of CdTe crystals and Cd1−xHgxTe/CdTe epitaxial layers after the influence of different external factors (ion implantation and etching).
Open access
access
Scanning X-ray nanodiffraction with 100 nm spatial resolution has been applied to investigate the ferroelectric domain structure of K0.75Na0.25NbO3 epitaxial layers grown on a (110) TbScO3 substrate using metal–organic chemical vapour deposition. Two variants differing in domain wall alignment and vertical lattice parameters have been identified and independently analysed.
Open access
access
Multi-waveguide interference can be verified experimentally by reconstructing the near-field from the measured far-field diffraction pattern. This enables a direct visualization of the near-field interference pattern and the diversity of fields that can be created by multi-waveguide design, in particular a secondary quasi-focal spot. Numerical propagation using the design parameters is compared with the phase retrieval results.
Open access
access
In this work the fluence efficiency of two coherent X-ray imaging techniques is studied by numerical experiments. The techniques surveyed are near-field holography and far-field diffraction imaging.
Open access
access
Coherent X-ray diffraction imaging was used to detect a threefold rotational symmetry in hexagonally shaped single semiconductor nanowires. The core–shell–shell structure was resolved by probing symmetric hhh Bragg reflections.
