Upgraded LauePt4 for rapid recognition and fitting of Laue patterns from crystals with unknown orientations.

The LauePt program is a popular and easy-to-use crystallography tool for indexing and simulating X-ray Laue patterns, but its previous versions lack search functions for recognizing Laue patterns taken from crystals with unknown orientations. To overcome this obstacle, a major upgrade of the program, called LauePt4, is presented with three robust search schemes implemented: (i) crystal rotation along a single diffraction vector, (ii) a look-up method to search for reflection pairs matching the interplanar angle of two selected diffraction spots, and (iii) a more efficient look-up scheme to search for reflection triplets matching three interplanar angles. Extensive tests show that all these schemes, together with the convenient graphical user interfaces and highly optimized computing algorithms, are reliable and powerful for recognizing and fitting Laue patterns of any crystal taken under any diffraction geometry.

Defect analysis in crystals using X-ray topography.

A brief review of X-ray topography--a nondestructive method for direct observation and characterization of defects in single crystals--is presented here. The origin and development of this characterization method and the different techniques derived from it are described. Emphasis is placed on synchrotron X-ray topography and its application in studying various crystal imperfections. Mechanisms of contrast formation on X-ray topographs are discussed, with emphasis on contrast associated with dislocations. Determination of Burgers vectors and line directions of dislocations from analysis of X-ray topographs is explained. Contrast from inclusions is illustrated, and their differentiation from dislocations is demonstrated with the aid of simulated topographs. Contrast arising from the deformation fields associated with cracks is also briefly covered.