Editor's Summary
6 July 2006
Crystal mapping
Synchrotron X-ray radiation, produced by electron accelerators at central facilities, can now be produced in extremely narrow coherent beams. When these X-rays illuminate a crystal of nanometre dimensions a diffraction pattern emerges that is highly resolved. This provides a powerful new tool for structural analysis, as the fine features of the diffraction pattern can be interpreted in terms of sub-atomic distortions within the crystal attributable to its contact with an external support.
News and Views: Microscopy: X-ray nanovision
Startling three-dimensional images of nanoparticles have been obtained with an X-ray microscope, showing crystal deformation in unprecedented detail. The trick is not to focus the X-rays, but to diffract them.
Eric D. Isaacs
doi:10.1038/442035a
Letter: Three-dimensional mapping of a deformation field inside a nanocrystal
Mark A. Pfeifer, Garth J. Williams, Ivan A. Vartanyants, Ross Harder & Ian K. Robinson
doi:10.1038/nature04867
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (304K) | Supplementary information
