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Updated: Jun 4, 2026
12:14
The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry
Published on: August 12, 2013
GenL: an extensible fitting program for Laue oscillations and whole-pattern fitting.
Anna L Ravensburg1, Johan Bylin1, Vassilios Kapaklis1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy Uppsala University Box 516 SE-75120 Uppsala Sweden.
Journal of Applied Crystallography
|June 3, 2026
Summary
GenL is a flexible software tool for simulating and fitting X-ray diffraction and reflectivity data from epitaxial thin films. It offers advanced fitting capabilities and can extract key structural parameters for thin film analysis.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Crystallography
Background:
- Epitaxial thin films are crucial in various technological applications.
- Accurate characterization of thin film structure is essential for performance optimization.
- Existing software may lack flexibility or comprehensive analysis capabilities for X-ray scattering data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce GenL, a versatile software program for simulating and fitting X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data.
- To provide a tool that accounts for various physical effects influencing scattering data.
- To enable the extraction of critical structural parameters from epitaxial thin films.
Main Methods:
- Utilizes differential evolution within a genetic algorithm for data fitting.
- Employs a modular approach based on kinematic or dynamic diffraction theories.
- Incorporates effects of polarization, absorption, Lorentz factor, instrumental resolution, and lattice vibrations.
Main Results:
- GenL can simulate and fit XRR and XRD data from epitaxial thin films, including those exhibiting Laue oscillations.
- Extracted parameters include atomic interplanar spacings, number of coherently scattering atomic planes, strain profiles, and crystal roughness.
- The software features a graphical user interface and is developed in MATLAB.
Conclusions:
- GenL is a flexible and extensible program for the analysis of X-ray scattering data from thin films.
- It offers a robust method for determining structural properties of epitaxial layers.
- The software is available in source code or as a pre-compiled binary under the GNU GPL.
Keywords:
GenLLaue oscillationsX-ray diffractionX-ray reflectivitycomputer programsdifferential-evolution algorithmsepitaxial thin filmsgenetic algorithmswhole-pattern fittingMore Related Videos
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