The overall aim of this MSc module is to give the students a background to the instrumentation used for powder diffraction, to illustrate the different uses of powder diffraction, and to give as much hands-on experience of data collection, data interpretation, and structure refinement as possible within the time allowed.

The objectives of each lecture are given below:

• Lecture 1
  To introduce the concept of diffraction from powdered crystalline materials;
  To discuss the generation of laboratory and synchrotron X-rays with additional emphasis on aspects relevant to powder diffraction;
  To discuss the history of powder neutron diffraction;
  To discuss the generation of reactor-based and pulsed source neutrons and to discuss the merits of both for powder neutron diffraction.
• Lecture 2
  To demonstrate the in-house powder diffractometers to the class;
  To emphasis the different geometries;
  To point out the different components (source, monochromator, sample stage, and detectors);
  To discuss the use of filters and monochromators and their application in powder diffraction;
  To describe the different types of X-ray and neutron detector with a brief explanation of how they work.
• Lecture 3
  To explain how good-quality powder samples are prepared;
  To get the students to prepare powder samples in the laboratory;
  To discuss powder diffractometer data acquisition and to relate this to experimental objectives (qualitative versus quantitative analysis, structure refinement versus structure solution);
  To get each student to collect data on a different unknown binary misture using the PSD detector;
  To discuss instrument calibration, errors, and standard samples.
• Lecture 4
  To explain the contents of the JCPDS database;
  To demonstrate the use of the database by the Hanawalt search method;
  To get the students to solve simple textbook problems using the teaching sub-set of the database.
• Lecture 5
  To teach the students how to visualise their data collected in lecture 3;
  To get the students to estimate peak positions and intensities;
  To give the students practice in phase identification from binary mixtures;
  To demonstrate some of the problems involved in qualitative analysis.
• Lecture 6
  To explain how the d-spacings of the peaks are related to the unit cell parameters;
  To show how these equations simply for higher-symmetry crystals;
  To demonstrate how powder diffraction patterns of cubic materials may be indexed manually;
  To give the students practice in manual indexing;
  To illustrate how the interplanar spacing of layered materials may be obtained by simple indexing of 00l peaks;
  To briefly discuss the concepts used in various automatic computer indexing programs.
• Lecture 7
  To discuss the factors that determine peak intensity in powder diffraction;
  To show the effect of symmetry on the peak multiplicity;
  To discuss the factors effecting peak width;
  To discuss peak shapes for different instrumental conditions;
  To briefly mention instrument abberations and their effect on peak shape.
• Lecture 8
  To explain the concepts involved in the Rietveld method for the refinement of crystal strcutures from powder data;
  To give a slow step by step demonstration of the method using in-house software.
• Lecture 9
  To show how the Rietveld method can be taken a stage further to whole pattern fitting;
  To demonstrate with examples the steps involved in structure solution from powder data;
  To emphasise the difficulties and limitations of the method.
• Lecture 10
  To give the students hands-on experience of the Rietveld method using a variety of powder diffraction data sets from different instruments;
  To illustrate the importance of knowing the characteristics of the diffractometer used for the data acquisition.
• Lecture 11
  To give the students hands-on experience of powder diffraction at both a synchrotron radiation source (SRS) and a pulsed neutron source (RAL).