Research with x rays

MAY 01, 1981

No longer limited by weak x‐ray sources, researchers are using intense beams of synchrotron radiation, continuously selectable in energy, to explore the geometric and electronic structure of matter.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2914567

Cullie J. Sparks

The brightness of x rays from synchrotron radiation sources has started a renaissance in a field thought to have been left barren by scientists of the first half of this century. By precisely tuning synchrotron radiation to specific electron energy levels researchers are gaining detailed knowledge of the spatial arrangement and electronic structure of atoms in solids. This knowledge promises not only to lead to advances in condensed‐matter theory but to aid in the development of materials with physical and chemical properties tailored to meet specific needs. Experimenters are using the x rays of synchrotron radiation to see biological material at great magnification even in the presence of water, to study the atomic structure of catalytic surfaces while the catalyst is in action, to observe the transient behavior of crystal growth or plastic deformation at millisecond intervals, and to determine atomic arrangements and bonding distances from less than a onolayer of material, just to mention a few examples. A byproduct of the unwieldy devices of medium‐ and high‐energy physics, synchrotron radiation is rapidly becoming one of the most useful contributors to the atomic and molecular sciences.

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More about the Authors

Cullie J. Sparks. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.