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.
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new way to determine atomic structures from nanocrystals previously considered unusable, a breakthrough that could ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 4, 2026
0
24
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on Earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 2, 2026
0
38
A protein that is a key modulator of fat, glucose and cholesterol levels in the body usually works in tandem with another protein, but new research shows it can also work with an unexpected partner—itself. A team of Penn ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 27, 2026
0
35
Watching proteins move as they drive the chemical reactions that sustain life is one of the grand challenges of modern biology. In recent years, X-ray free-electron lasers, or XFELs, have begun to meet that challenge, capturing ...
Biotechnology
Feb 5, 2026
0
26
A team of engineers and scientists has shown for the first time that a hard-X-ray cavity can provide net X-ray gain, with X-ray pulses being circulated between crystal mirrors and amplified in the process, much like happens ...
Optics & Photonics
Jan 28, 2026
0
66
Together with an international team, researchers from the Molecular Physics Department at the Fritz Haber Institute have revealed how atoms rearrange themselves before releasing low-energy electrons in a decay process initiated ...
General Physics
Jan 26, 2026
0
51
Scientists at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL have realized a long-pursued experimental goal in physics: to show how electrons dance together. The technique, known as X-ray four-wave mixing, opens a new way to see ...
Optics & Photonics
Jan 16, 2026
0
131
Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have, for the first time, demonstrated a technique that synchronizes ultrashort X-ray pulses at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL. This achievement opens new possibilities ...
Optics & Photonics
Jan 7, 2026
0
45
Water is all around us, yet its surface layer—home to chemical reactions that shape life on Earth—is surprisingly hard to study. Experiments at SLAC's X-ray laser are bringing it into focus.
Optics & Photonics
Dec 12, 2025
1
111
Scientists at the Max Born Institute have developed a new soft X-ray instrument that can reveal dynamics of magnetic domains on nanometer length and picosecond time scales. By bringing capabilities once exclusive to X-ray ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 8, 2025
0
20
