X-ray techniques comprise a range of experimental methods that exploit the interaction of X-ray photons with matter to probe structural, electronic, and compositional properties across length scales from atomic to macroscopic. Major classes include X-ray diffraction (single-crystal, powder, and small- or wide-angle scattering) for determining crystallographic and nanoscale structure; X-ray spectroscopy (XANES, EXAFS, XPS) for probing oxidation states, local coordination, and electronic structure; and X-ray imaging and tomography for spatially resolved density and phase-contrast mapping. These techniques rely on well-characterized X-ray sources, monochromators, detectors, and often synchrotron or free-electron laser facilities to achieve high brilliance, energy tunability, temporal resolution, and quantitative analysis.
Some of the strangest weather in the solar system doesn't happen on Earth or even in Jupiter's Great Red Spot—it happens in the interiors of ice giants like Neptune and Uranus. Specifically, scientists have long believed ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 29, 2026
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65
Researchers at Monash University have developed a new X-ray imaging technique that can image two overlapping samples at the same time, potentially doubling scanning efficiency while opening new possibilities for industrial ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 17, 2026
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12
An international research team including Alexander Korsunsky from the Skoltech Engineering Center has, for the first time, directly measured mechanical stresses at the contact between a diamond indenter and a complex nanostructured ...
Nanophysics
Aug 13, 2026
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7
When certain atoms are irradiated with laser light, they can produce a very different kind of laser light: laser pulses with extremely high frequencies in the X-ray range. These laser pulses, which helped achieve record-breaking ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 11, 2026
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25
All chemistry starts with a push from electrons. In the early moments of a chemical reaction, it's the movement of electrons that initiates the breaking of old chemical bonds and forging of new ones, transforming one molecule ...
General Physics
Aug 5, 2026
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39
The interaction between X-rays and matter can be actively controlled, according to an international research team led by the University of Hamburg and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory that has succeeded in producing bright ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 3, 2026
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13
Artificial intelligence (AI) models are now used daily by many people worldwide, both for professional and personal purposes. Over the past decades, scientists specialized in various disciplines have also started using these ...
Researchers have shown that it's possible to take clear, high-resolution X-ray images using very little radiation. With more development, the new approach could eventually make medical X-ray diagnostics less risky and more ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 16, 2026
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17
Researchers at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have developed the world's first achromatic lens for neutron imaging. The lens overcomes a longstanding obstacle in the field: focusing neutrons of different wavelengths well enough ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 14, 2026
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263
Researchers have captured how a molecule redistributes energy after absorbing light, differentiating the roles of individual atoms in the process. They used X-ray flashes from the European XFEL to show that different atoms ...
General Physics
Jul 13, 2026
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184
