Electron diffraction

Electron diffraction refers to the wave nature of electrons. However, from a technical or practical point of view, it may be regarded as a technique used to study matter by firing electrons at a sample and observing the resulting interference pattern. This phenomenon is commonly known as wave–particle duality, which states that a particle of matter (in this case the incident electron) can be described as a wave. For this reason, an electron can be regarded as a wave much like sound or water waves. This technique is similar to X-ray and neutron diffraction. Electron diffraction refers to the wave nature of electrons. However, from a technical or practical point of view, it may be regarded as a technique used to study matter by firing electrons at a sample and observing the resulting interference pattern. This phenomenon is commonly known as wave–particle duality, which states that a particle of matter (in this case the incident electron) can be described as a wave. For this reason, an electron can be regarded as a wave much like sound or water waves. This technique is similar to X-ray and neutron diffraction. Electron diffraction is most frequently used in solid state physics and chemistry to study the crystal structure of solids. Experiments are usually performed in a transmission electron microscope (TEM), or a scanning electron microscope (SEM) as electron backscatter diffraction. In these instruments, electrons are accelerated by an electrostatic potential in order to gain the desired energy and determine their wavelength before they interact with the sample to be studied. The periodic structure of a crystalline solid acts as a diffraction grating, scattering the electrons in a predictable manner. Working back from the observed diffraction pattern, it may be possible to deduce the structure of the crystal producing the diffraction pattern. However, the technique is limited by phase problem. Apart from the study of 'periodically perfect' crystals, i.e. electron crystallography, electron diffraction is also a useful technique to study the short range order of amorphous solids, short-range ordering of imperfections such as vacancies, the geometry of gaseous molecules, and the properties of short-range ordering of vacancies. The de Broglie hypothesis, formulated in 1924, predicts that particles should also behave as waves. De Broglie's formula was confirmed three years later for electrons (which have a rest-mass) with the observation of electron diffraction in two independent experiments. At the University of Aberdeen, George Paget Thomson passed a beam of electrons through a thin metal film and observed the predicted interference patterns. Around the same time at Bell Labs, Clinton Joseph Davisson and Lester Halbert Germer guided their beam through a crystalline grid. In 1937, Thomson and Davisson shared the Nobel Prize for Physics for their (independent) discovery. Unlike other types of radiation used in diffraction studies of materials, such as X-rays and neutrons, electrons are charged particles and interact with matter through the Coulomb forces. This means that the incident electrons feel the influence of both the positively charged atomic nuclei and the surrounding electrons. In comparison, X-rays interact with the spatial distribution of the valence electrons, while neutrons are scattered by the atomic nuclei through the strong nuclear forces. In addition, the magnetic moment of neutrons is non-zero, and they are therefore also scattered by magnetic fields. Because of these different forms of interaction, the three types of radiation are suitable for different studies.