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.
In a step toward making ultra-bright X-ray sources more widely available, an international collaboration led by the University of Michigan—with experiments at the U.K.'s Central Laser Facility—has mapped key aspects of ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 10, 2025
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60
Using small angle neutron and X-ray scattering, researchers from the European Spallation Source and RWTH Aachen University have compared the nanostructure of gluten-free and normal spaghetti, finding that the kind with gluten ...
Nanophysics
Sep 8, 2025
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1
Ferroelectrics are seen as promising candidates for the electronics of tomorrow. An experiment at the world's largest X-ray laser—the European XFEL in Schenefeld near Hamburg—now shows that their properties can be controlled ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 1, 2025
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A team of Johns Hopkins researchers is using an innovative X-ray imaging approach to reveal how compression reshapes the tiny spaces and stresses within sandstone—findings that could predict how this common rock used for ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 21, 2025
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0
A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have generated a highly exotic type of light beam, called a Poincaré beam, using the FERMI free-electron laser (FEL) facility in ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 14, 2025
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With a suite of reimagined instruments at SLAC's LCLS facility, researchers see massive improvement in data quality and take up scientific inquiries that were out of reach just one year ago.
General Physics
Aug 8, 2025
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21
New research by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), in collaboration with scientists from TAU Systems Inc., has brought the promise of smaller and more affordable ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 29, 2025
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36
Using only a single-crystal piezoelectric thin wafer of lithium niobate (LN) instead of the usual two-part structure, a group from Nagoya University in Japan has created a deformable mirror that changes X-ray beam size by ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 27, 2025
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17
Once only a part of science fiction, lasers are now everyday objects used in research, health care and even just for fun. Previously available only in low-energy light, lasers are now available in wavelengths from microwaves ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 11, 2025
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23
What happens when the universe's most magnetic object shines with the power of 1000 suns in a matter of seconds? Thanks to NASA's IXPE (Imaging X‑ray Polarimetry Explorer), a mission in collaboration with ASI (Italian Space ...
Astronomy
Jun 5, 2025
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