Eligibility & Prerequisites
Courses are open to all, but selection may be limited if the number of applicants is high.
Our main target group are PhD students, but courses are also open to advanced MSc students, postdocs, and participants from industry.
Students should possess basic knowledge of the crystalline state, crystal lattices, symmetry, systematic absences, and diffraction fundamentals (e.g., SU course “Structure analysis by driffraction – KZ8013). Familiarity with structure viewers (Diamond, Mercury, CrystalMaker, VESTA) is expected.
Next course date
March 2027
Learning Objectives
- Obtain understanding of diffraction principles and application of powder diffraction for phase/structural analysis.
- Gain tools and experience to independently perform advanced analysis of powder diffraction data.
Course Main Content
The course consists of a theory part and a project part. The theory part provides a brief review of crystallography — including crystal structure description, symmetry, lattices, and space groups — and the principles of diffraction for single crystals and powders, both nuclear and magnetic. It then focuses on the specifics of powder diffraction, covering pattern backgrounds, peak positions and shapes, indexing, intensity extraction, and Rietveld refinement. The project part involves applying these methods to real data sets and solving practical diffraction problems
Literature
- Pecharsky & Zavalij (2006): Fundamentals of Powder Diffraction and Structural Characterization of Materials, Springer (ISBN: 978-0-387-09578-3).
- Dinnebier & Billinge (2008): Powder Diffraction, Theory and Practice, RSC publishing (ISBN: 9778-0-85404-231-9).
Examination & Requirements for Final Grade
Written exam covering lectures and an oral presentation of the project work.
Contact
Docent Ken Inge (Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry (MMK), Stockholm University ) – Andrew.inge@mmk.su.se