Total scattering experiments on glass and crystalline materials at the ESRF on the ID11 Beamline

ID11 is a multi-purpose high-energy beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). Owing to the high-energy X-ray source (up to 140 keV) and flexible, high-precision sample mounting which allows small sample–detector distances to be achieved, experiments such as total scattering in transmission geometry are possible. This permits the exploration of a wide Q range and so provides high real-space resolution. A range of samples (glasses and crystalline powders) have been measured at 78 keV, first putting the detector as close as possible to the sample (~10 cm), and then moving it vertically and laterally with respect to the beam in order to have circular and quarter circle sections of diffraction rings, with consequent Q MAX at the edge of the detector of about 16 and 28 A−1, respectively. Data were integrated using FIT2D, and then normalized and corrected with PDFgetX3. Results have been compared to see the effects of Q-range and counting statistics on the atomic pair distribution functions of the different samples. A Q of at least 20 A−1 was essential to have sufficient real-space resolution for both type of samples while statistics appeared more important for glass samples rather than for crystalline samples.