Elementary Scattering Theory For X-ray and Neutron Users

The opportunities for doing scattering experiments at synchrotron and neutron facilities have grown rapidly in recent years and are set to continue to do so into the foreseeable future. This text provides a basic understanding of how these techniques enable the structure and dynamics of materials to be studied at the atomic and molecular level. Although mathematics cannot be avoided in a theoretical discussion, the aim has been to write a book that most scientists will still find approachable. To this end, the first two chapters are devoted to providing a tutorial background in the mathematics and physics that are implicitly assumed in other texts. Thereafter, the philosophy has been one of keeping things as simple as possible.

1 - Studying matter at the atomic and molecular level
2 - Waves, complex numbers and Fourier transforms
3 - The basics of X-ray and neutrons scattering
4 - Surfaces, interfaces and reflectivity
5 - Small-angle scattering and the big picture
6 - Liquids and amorphous materials
7 - Periodicity, symmetry and crystallography
8 - Energy exchange and dynamical information
9 - Examples of inelastic scattering

Dr. Sivia studied for his degrees at Cambridge University and then did post-doctoral work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was a staff scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and a College Lecturer at St. Catherine's College, Oxford, for many years before becoming a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. In addition to the present text, he has co-authored three books on Mathematics and Physics in the Oxford Chemistry Primers Series, and a book on Bayesian Data Analysis.