Diffraction of Radiation by Crystals (Principles and Experimental Methods)

Abstract

What is the nature of X-rays? Do crystals have a regular internal structure which is responsible for their regular external forms? These questions vexed crystallographers and physicists for many years. Laue’s discovery of X-ray diffraction in 1912 answered both the questions: X-rays are short wavelength electromagnetic waves and crystals have a regular internal structure; further, the wavelength of X-rays and the interatomic spacing in crystals are of the same order. Besides answering these questions, the discovery of X-ray diffraction opened up a new field of crystal structure determination.