Your Location Within Site:

Our research / Advanced materials / Advanced materials modelling / Synchrotron science

Synchrotron science

IRL has been developing expertise in synchrotron techniques since 2005 with specific interest in crystallography, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, small-angle x-ray scattering, diffraction, and soft x-ray techniques.

synchrotron

A synchrotron is an intense light source, millions of times brighter than conventional laboratory instruments. Using this light (from the infrared to the hard x-ray region) it is possible to study systems on a much smaller length scale and much shorter time scale than in a laboratory.

Current research

The systems that have been studied include nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, Langmuir monolayer films, zinc oxide nanostructures, corrosion processes, single crystal structure analysis, high-Tc superconductors, and titania colloids.

Synchrotron techniques:

There are many synchrotron techniques available, which fall under the following categories:

  • Scattering: for probing the structure of materials from the atomic to
    the micron scale
  • Spectroscopy: for investigating the electronic properties of materials
    and analysis of chemical composition
  • Polarimetry: for measuring the shape of complex molecules such as
    proteins, and investigating magnetism
  • Imaging: obtaining highly detailed images of biological organisms to
    lithographically defined circuitry

SAXS files

The following programmes are freeware and acknowledgement would be appreciated:

license.doc (DOC 46KB) - License agreement - Please read before downloading.

SAXSFit

A program for fitting small angle x-ray and/or neutron scattering data using a hard sphere model with local monodisperse approximation.

SAXSFit.exe (EXE 73KB )- Windows executable (for Windows 98, 2000, XP)

SAXSFit.jar  (JAR 49.5KB)- Cross platform executable (Windows, Linux, Mac)

SAXSFit_manual_2_3.pdf (PDF 543KB) - Manual for the program explaining features and mathematical basis.

SAXSMorph

A program for generating representative morphologies from small angle x-ray and/or neutron scattering data.

SAXSMorph.exe (EXE 85KB) - Windows executable (for Windows 98, 2000, XP)

SAXSMorph.jar (JAR 61.51KB) - Cross platform executable (Windows, Linux, Mac)

SAXSMorph_manual_2_2.pdf (PDF 385.81KB) - Manual for the program explaining features and mathematical basis.

Please note: All of the above require Java 1.5.0 or higher.

Last updated: 24 August 2010