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.
From computer chips to image sensors in cameras, today's technology is overwhelmingly based on a semiconductor called silicon. This technology has been shrinking for decades—think of early room-sized computers compared to ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 3, 2025
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Researchers have announced results from a new search at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (European XFEL) Facility at Hamburg for a hypothetical particle that may make up the dark matter of the universe. The experiment ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 18, 2025
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An international team of scientists has unveiled new insights into the dissociation dynamics of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) under high-energy X-ray excitation. The study, conducted using advanced synchrotron radiation techniques, ...
General Physics
Feb 18, 2025
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Kokoro Hosogi, a physics student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has achieved a rare honor for an undergraduate: her contributions are being recognized in a study published in the journal Nature. The researcher ...
Astronomy
Feb 12, 2025
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Attosecond science, honored with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, is transforming our understanding of how electrons move in atoms, molecules, and solids. An attosecond—equivalent to a billionth of a billionth of a second—enables ...
Optics & Photonics
Jan 21, 2025
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A dry material makes a great fire starter, and a soft material lends itself to a sweater. Batteries require materials that can store lots of energy, and microchips need components that can turn the flow of electricity on ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 17, 2025
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X-rays are radiated by matter hotter than one million Kelvin, and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy can tell us about the composition of the matter and how fast and in what direction it is moving. Quantum calorimeters are ...
Quantum Physics
Dec 17, 2024
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Researchers have pioneered a new technique at the Swiss Light Source SLS called X-ray linear dichroic orientation tomography, which probes the orientation of a material's building blocks at the nanoscale in three-dimensions.
Nanomaterials
Dec 11, 2024
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When laser energy is deposited in a target material, numerous complex processes take place at length and time scales that are too small to visually observe. To study and ultimately fine-tune such processes, researchers look ...
Condensed Matter
Nov 25, 2024
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A research team at European XFEL and DESY has achieved a major advance in X-ray science by generating unprecedented high-power attosecond hard X-ray pulses at megahertz repetition rates. This advancement opens new frontiers ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 25, 2024
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