Introduction to small-angle (X-ray) scattering

This is an introduction to small-angle X-ray (and neutron) scattering, the experimental method, to which the instrument CREDO is dedicated. It is an indirect but extremely useful experimental method for uncovering structural features present on the nanometric scale. It is based on the elastic scattering of the probe particles (photons or neutrons) on the constituents of the sample (electrons or atoms, respectively). The amount of particles deflected by the interaction with matter under different angles from their original path constitutes the scatttering pattern, which carries information on the structure of the scatterer. By the help of this method several structural features of the materials under investigation can be discovered, which are inaccessible to other experimental techniques, and to a higher accuracy and precision than can be obtained with other means of structural study.

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