U.S. Particle Accelerator School
U.S. Particle Accelerator School
America's National School of Accelerator Science and Technology

Applications of Synchrotron Radiation in Materials Science course

Sponsoring University:

Yale University

Course:

Applications of Synchrotron Radiation in Materials Science - course cancelled

Instructor:

Denis McWhan, Retired

The use of synchrotron radiation is no longer just the province of the experts; it has become ubiquitous as a tool for the study of materials. This survey course will present the fundamental properties of synchrotron radiation and describe the sources that are available to universities, industry and government laboratories in the U.S. The course will then cover the wide range of different synchrotron experiments that can be used to characterize materials. The unifying theme will be "what can one learn about Si, Si02 and products derived from them using synchrotron-based experiments". How does one understand both the atomic and electronic structure of different phases; the role and control of impurities and defects, and how surfaces differ from the bulk? These properties can be studied using diffraction, spectroscopic, and imaging techniques. The structure of powders, single crystals, surfaces, and various synthetic multilayers are determined using x-ray diffraction. Chemical and near neighbor information is obtained from X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and the electronic structure is probed using angle resolved and spin polarized photoemission and various core level spectroscopies. Imaging techniques include x-ray topography, x-ray microtomography, scanning x-ray microscopy and infrared spectromicroscopy. The objective of this course is to provide a materials scientist, at the graduate student-level and above, with the basic information needed to use synchrotron-based experiments in their research.  Prerequisite: familiarity with Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science at the undergraduate level. Text to be provided: Elements of Modem X-Ray Physics by Jens Als­Neilson and Des McMurrow, (Wiley NY, 2001).