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Figure 1
Physics of the SAD experiment. (a) Four normal atoms and one anomalous scatterer are shown relative to a pair of Bragg planes. Incident and diffracted X-rays for measurement of diffraction from the top of the Bragg planes (the `plus' hand of a pair of measurements) are shown as black arrows, while red arrows show incident and diffracted X-rays for measurement of diffraction from the same Bragg planes but from the bottom of the planes (the `minus' hand). (b) For the `plus' hand, the phase of the contribution from the normal scatterers varies from 0 for atoms on the bottom plane to 2π for atoms on the top plane. Arrows representing their contributions to diffraction are shown by arrows in colours matching the atoms in (a). The anomalous scatterer has a large normal component, but because of the phase lag there is a small component perpendicular to the normal component, rotated in the counterclockwise direction. For the `minus' hand, the phase of the contribution from normal scatterers has the opposite sign, varying from 0 for the top plane to 2π for the bottom plane, so their contributions (shown with red arrows) are mirrored across the horizontal axis. The normal contribution from the anomalous scatterer is also mirrored, but the phase lag again leads to a perpendicular component rotated counterclockwise, thus breaking the mirror symmetry. (c) The contributions for the `minus' hand are reflected across the horizontal axis (giving the complex conjugate of the structure factor), showing more clearly how the anomalous scattering component of the anomalous scatterer breaks the symmetry, leading to different intensities depending on whether diffraction is measured from above or below the Bragg planes.

Journal logoBIOLOGICAL
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
ISSN: 1399-0047
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