REVIEW OF NON-DIFFRACTION TECHNIQUES IN STRUCTURAL STUDIES
G. Faigel
Research Institute for Solid State Physics, Budapest, POB 49. Hungary. gf@power.szfki.kfki.hu
Keywords: Nuclear magnetic resonance, Mössbauer
spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling
microscopy, extended x-ray absorption fine structure, atomic
resolution x-ray holography
Most of the structural studies on crystals are done by
diffraction. The cause of this is that both single crystal and
powder diffraction give atomic or atomic plane distances after
relatively simple evaluation. However, in many cases structural
information from other, non-diffraction methods can facilitate
the refinement of the structure. I addition to this there are
special samples when diffraction methods fail, for example
surfaces, buried interfaces, local environments around impurities
etc. In these cases non-diffraction methods give unique
information. We review these methods, including nuclear magnetic
resonance, Mössbauer spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy,
scanning tunneling microscopy, extended x-ray absorption fine
structure, atomic resolution x-ray holography. The areas in which
these methods can be used will be demonstrated by examples.