User:FuzzyMagma/X-ray Laue Diffraction Microscopy

X-ray Laue diffraction microscopy is a technique that examines the structure of materials with sub-micron spatial resolution in all three dimensions. It is a type of X-ray diffraction that uses polychromatic, rather than monochromatic synchrotron X-rays, to produce a regular array of spots on a photographic emulsion resulting from X-rays scattered by certain groups of parallel atomic planes within a crystal. The Laue diffraction microscopy technique uses white Bremsstrahlung radiation to determine the crystallographic orientation of single crystalline materials. In addition, the technique can be used to examine detailed local structural information of crystalline materials, such as crystallographic orientation, orientation gradients, and strain. X-ray Laue diffraction microscopy has also been applied to protein crystals, allowing for time-resolved crystallography and the generation of the protein structure in timescales of about 1 second.

Introduction

Further information: Laue diffraction

X-ray Laue diffraction microscopy has a rich history, beginning with Max von Laue's discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals in 1912 [5]. Laue's discovery was quickly followed up by William Henry Bragg, who reinterpreted the diffraction phenomenon in terms of X-ray reflection by the planes of the crystal, and his son William Lawrence, who developed the theory of X-ray diffraction and demonstrated its application for the study of crystal structures and precise determination of X-ray wavelengths [2].

Laue diffraction occurs when a thin, pencil-like beam of X-rays is allowed to impinge on a crystal, and those of certain wavelengths are oriented at just the proper angle to a group of atomic planes, producing a regular array of spots on a photographic emulsion [3]. X-ray Laue diffraction has been applied to protein crystals in a limited number of studies over several decades, allowing time-resolved crystallography and generation of protein structure in timescales of about 1 second [4].

In recent years, X-ray Laue diffraction microscopy has seen significant advances, with the technique being used to examine the structure of materials with sub-micron spatial resolution in all three dimensions. The science area of X-ray microscopy has also seen rapid development, with the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895, and the subsequent use of X-ray diffraction to probe the atomic scale.