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Synchrotron X-ray Microdiffraction and Fluorescence Imaging of Mineral and Rock Samples
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A tunable multicolour 'rainbow' filter for improved stress and dislocation density field mapping in polycrystals
Odile Robach1, Jean Sébastien Micha, Olivier Ulrich
1CEA-Grenoble, INAC/SP2M/NRS, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Acta Crystallographica. Section A, Foundations of Crystallography
|February 14, 2013
Summary
A new "rainbow" method enables rapid measurement of crystal strain fields using white-beam X-ray Laue microdiffraction. This technique efficiently maps crystal orientation and strain without lengthy monochromatic beam adjustments.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Crystallography
- X-ray Diffraction
Background:
- White-beam X-ray Laue microdiffraction offers submicron resolution for mapping crystal orientation and strain fields in polycrystals.
- Traditional methods for analyzing strain, particularly the hydrostatic component, require longer measurement times using monochromatic beams.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel 'rainbow' method for measuring Laue spot energy profiles in white-beam X-ray Laue microdiffraction.
- To enable simultaneous measurement of energy profiles and Laue patterns, improving efficiency.
- To facilitate rapid access to energy profiles for a larger number of diffraction spots.
Main Methods:
- The 'rainbow' method utilizes a diamond single crystal upstream of the sample to selectively remove energy bands from the incident white X-ray beam.
- Rotating the diamond crystal allows controlled variation of filtered energies, enabling determination of extinction energies for sample Laue spots.
- Energy profiles are determined by analyzing the diamond's Laue pattern at each rotation step using a separate 2D detector.
Main Results:
- The study demonstrates the feasibility of the 'rainbow' method for measuring Laue spot energy profiles in white-beam conditions.
- The method provides similar information to monochromatic techniques but with enhanced speed and simultaneous data acquisition.
- Validation through measurement of a known lattice parameter confirms the accuracy of the technique.
Conclusions:
- The 'rainbow' method is a significant advancement for rapid, high-resolution strain analysis in polycrystals using X-ray Laue microdiffraction.
- This technique overcomes limitations of monochromatic methods, offering faster data acquisition and broader applicability.
- The method's ability to measure hydrostatic strain components efficiently opens new avenues for materials characterization.
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