Combined X-ray and neutron diffraction from binary liquids and amorphous semiconductors

Abstract

Neutron scattering and isotopic substitution has been established as a method of unambiguously determining the partial structure factors of binary liquid and amorphous materials. In this paper we present results of an extension of this method to include X-ray diffraction as a method of enhancing the structural information obtained. We have applied a combination of two neutron diffraction experiments using isotopic substitution and one X-ray diffraction experiment to obtain the partial structure factors and pair distribution functions of liquid TlSe. We have applied the anomalous X-ray diffraction technique to glassy PSe using the Se K-edge. The results show that the first sharp diffraction peak observed in this glass arises almost entirely from the P–P correlations. We have applied the combined X-ray anomalous scattering and neutron diffraction technique to obtain the partial structure factors of glassy GeO2. The results from two independent data sets have been compared and are in good agreement.