Electron diffraction structure analysis (EDSA)

Definition

Electron Diffraction Structure Analysis (EDSA) is the use of fast (short wavelength) electron diffraction for the structural analysis of small volume solids, liquids and gases. As defined by B.K. Vainshtein and co-workers, EDSA includes the determination of inorganic, organic and biological crystal structures, including atomic positions, detailed lattice potential distributions and the nature of interatomic bonding. It also includes studies of various types of structural disorder and, particularly for polymers and amorphous substances, the dynamics of certain physico-chemical processes (e.g. diffusion) and chemical processes (e.g. oxidation) with a quantitative characterisation of the occupancy of certain structural sites by atoms. EDSA also includes the identification of substances on the basis of the most remarkable diffraction pattern features directly related to some crystal chemical peculiarities, the polytype analysis, non-quantitative conclusions on structural features such as modulations, super- and sub-lattices, etc.

See also

• Cowley, J.M. (1968). Crystal structure determination by electron diffraction, Progress in Materials Science, 13, pp. 267 - 321. [1]

• Vainshtein B.K., Zvyagin B.B., Avilov A.S. (1992). Electron diffraction structure analysis. In: Electron diffraction techniques Vol. 1 (Ed. J. Cowley), IUCr Monographs on Crystallography, Oxford University Press, pp. 216–312. (ISBN: 9780198555582)

• Dorset, D.L. (1995). Structural Electron Crystallography, Springer New York, NY (ISBN 978-0-306-45049-5) [2]

• Zou, X.D., Hovmöller, S., Oleynikov, P. (2011). Electron Crystallography, International Union of Crystallography Texts on Crystallography, Oxford University Press. (ISBN: 9780199580200)