Predicting some Effects of Lattice Vibrations on Proton Scattering Patterns

Abstract

AbstractA method of predicting the approximate relative intensities of lines in proton blocking patterns recently proposed, which is based on summing the squares of structure factors for the various orders of reflection of a plane, is found to predict certain effects of lattice vibrations on the lines in some recently reported patterns. The mean square amplitude of vibration enters the calculations through a Debye-Waller temperature factor like that used in X-ray diffraction. When patterns are compared for groups of crystals that are nearly identical except for this temperature factor, the qualitative predictions by this method agree with the observations. If it is also arbitrarily assumed that the integrated intensity dip at a spot where lines intersect is approximated by summing the calculated Integrated intensity dips for all of the lines crossing at the spot, one has a simple and convenient method of predicting relative spot intensities. Such calculations have been successful in establishing the order of decreasing intensity for most of the spots along a given line, with several different kinds of crystals. This method also serves to predict qualitatively how prominent the spots appear relative to the lines, in general, in patterns of crystals that differ appreciably only in the amplitude of the thermal vibrations.