Nanostructures studied by X-ray diffraction - Part 1

Since more than a century x-ray diffraction (XRD) is a well-established Nobel prize winning tool in physics and chemistry to analyze the atomic structure of solids. Although primarily used as a bulk probe, the availability of Synchrotron radiation and brilliant laboratory X-ray sources made it possible to study nanostructures and crystal surfaces also. In this presentation, I will outline the principles of XRD in general and the peculiarities of its application to nanostructures especially in view of recent achievements in laboratory XRD instrumentation.