Without significant anomalous scattering, the electron density is effectively real and Friedel's law gives , hence .
With anomalous scattering the atomic imaginary term retains its sign when the reflection index reverses. Here , so
Thus the second expected intensity is approximately . Conjugating the complete anomalous structure factor would incorrectly impose Friedel equality on the second experiment.
With an origin at an inversion center, the structure factors are real, so their phases are either or . Defining gives
Centrosymmetry converts the phase problem into a sign problem; it does not imply that every structure factor is positive.
The high-pressure atomic basis of a crystal has the caesium chloride structure. Its chemically labelled Bravais lattice is simple cubic lattice: exchanging Na and Cl is not a translation symmetry. Its structure factor is
Because ionic bonding gives approximately Na and Cl, their bound-electron counts are and . In the stipulated electron-count approximation, odd-index-sum reflections have , while even-index-sum reflections have . In particular, the first ring is weak but present; it must not be discarded using a body-centering extinction rule.
The next ring is , and Bragg's law gives
The powder diffraction multiplicities are six and twelve. Counting all symmetry-equivalent reflections, while neglecting other angular factors, therefore gives
The corresponding single-directed-reflection ratio would be . Neutral-atom counts would give the wrong contrast because the material is ionic.
For measured integrated photon counts, the geometry must also be specified. More generally the ratio is times the ratio of Lorentz-polarization factors, thermal-motion factors and detection efficiencies. For example, the common unpolarized symmetric-powder convention has
and gives if all other corrections are suppressed. Thus 24.5 is the multiplicity-and-structure-factor estimate, rather than a geometry-independent precision count ratio; actual angle-dependent ionic form factors are also not supplied.
The sites form a face-centered cubic lattice decorated by an identical two-atom atomic basis of a crystal, at fractional displacements and . This is the diamond cubic structure; the eight atoms in its conventional cube are not eight independent Bravais-lattice points.
For identical silicon atomic scattering factors , the conventional-cell structure factor separates into the FCC factor and the two-site motif factor:
The first factor vanishes unless are all even or all odd. For all-even indices, the motif also vanishes if ; it survives if the sum is divisible by four. All-odd indices survive, with motif modulus . Thus and are absent by centering, is absent by the diamond basis, and and are allowed.
For a cubic cell, . At fixed X-ray wavelength, Bragg's law makes the smallest scattering angles correspond to the smallest allowed positive values of . These start with and , so
The braces denote whole powder families, including their symmetry-equivalent plane normals. The next family is , with squared-index sum ; using the FCC rule alone would incorrectly insert a line before .
Interpret the reported angles as total scattering angles . The photon energy gives
Combining with the two index assignments yields
The slight difference is consistent with the rounded angular data, giving
The intensity estimate needs a stated convention. The geometric structure factors obey and , so equal atomic factors give a single-directed-reflection ratio . For a powder line, the powder diffraction multiplicities are eight for and twelve for . Hence a multiplicity-and-structure-factor estimate is
if other angle-dependent factors are neglected.
A measured integrated powder intensity also contains the Lorentz-polarization factor, atomic form factor, thermal-motion factor and instrument/sample corrections. For example, in the common unpolarized symmetric powder geometry,
Including this factor but still taking equal atomic factors gives , rather than . More generally,
within that geometry, before other corrections. The actual form factors and measurement geometry are not supplied, so no unique precision experimental peak-height ratio follows. The values , and refer to distinct explicitly stated levels of approximation; a powder family must not be silently treated as one directed reflection.
Use fractional coordinates relative to conventional cubic vectors . A body-centered cubic lattice has representative points
so its conventional cell contains two lattice points: eight shared corners contribute one and the interior point contributes one. A face-centered cubic lattice has
so its conventional cell contains four: one from the shared corners and three from six half-shared faces.
For atoms at fractional positions , the geometric structure factor and the atomic-factor-weighted amplitude are respectively
For identical atoms . Applying the conventional-cell lattice factors gives
and
These are lattice selection rules; an additional nontrivial crystal basis structure factor can extinguish further allowed reflections.
Of the eight equally represented parity triples, four satisfy the BCC condition and two the FCC condition. Thus the fractions among integer index triples are and , respectively. This reflects the two and four equivalent lattice points in the conventional cells: their reciprocal lattices occupy corresponding subsets of the conventional reciprocal grids. In primitive reciprocal coordinates every integer triple denotes a reciprocal-lattice vector; lattice-centering absences are then built into the grid rather than an extra rule. A multi-atom chemical basis can still cause genuine additional absences. If permutations means merely reordering one fixed triple, its allowedness never changes: the quoted fractions concern all index triples, not reordering a chosen .
The structure factor is the coherent scattering amplitude of the contents of a unit cell at a specified momentum transfer. Contributions from its atoms add with phases fixed by their positions. At a reciprocal lattice vector indexed by Miller indices, the crystal basis structure factor is
Changing every phase sign conjugates the amplitude for real scattering factors and leaves the intensity unchanged. The positions here are fractions of the chosen cell edges. An atomic basis of a crystal should not be confused with a set of primitive translation vectors.
In kinematic elastic scattering the diffraction intensity of a Bragg reflection is proportional to , after including geometrical, polarization, thermal-displacement and experimental factors. Powder integrated intensities also include multiplicity. The many-cell interference factor selects reciprocal-lattice vectors satisfying the diffraction geometry; the unit-cell factor determines their relative amplitudes and additional extinctions. Ring positions determine spacings through Bragg's law, while intensity patterns and systematic absences constrain lattice centering and atomic arrangements. Intensity loses the overall complex phase, so structure determination is not a direct measurement of every individual atomic phase.
X-rays scatter from electron density, giving an atomic factor that changes with momentum transfer and chemical charge distribution. Neutrons scatter coherently from nuclei with bound coherent scattering lengths, which need not track atomic number; magnetic neutron scattering is an additional channel in magnetic materials. Their different elemental/isotopic contrasts make the two probes complementary.
With the convention , the reciprocal lattice of a face-centered cubic lattice is a body-centered cubic lattice. The reciprocal conventional cube is parallel to the direct conventional cube and has side . In direct-cubic coordinates its points are
The even triples supply the corners of that reciprocal cube and the odd triples its body centres. The atomic basis can change diffraction intensities through its structure factor; it does not change the reciprocal lattice determined by the translation lattice.
Given independent primitive lattice translation vectors , define
Then . The reciprocal lattice consists of
equivalently all wavevectors for which for every direct lattice vector .
For the face-centered cubic lattice, choose
Their scalar triple product is , and direct evaluation of the cross products gives
Every integer combination has coordinates with all even or all odd. Conversely, for such coordinates the coefficients are integers, so every such point occurs. The even-coordinate points are the corners of cubes of edge , and the odd-coordinate points are their body centres. Therefore
This is a property of the Bravais lattice; the two-atom atomic basis changes structure factors rather than these reciprocal lattice translation vectors.
For the reciprocal lattice vector , sum the atomic scattering factors with the atomic basis phase factors. Taking the positive phase convention gives the structure factor
Changing the phase convention complex-conjugates the structure factor and leaves the diffraction wave intensity unchanged. Since the Miller indices are integers,
If all three Miller indices have the same integer parity, all pairwise sums are even. Otherwise exactly one pairwise sum is even and two are odd. Consequently
The corresponding structure factors are and . Reflections with mixed integer parity are superlattice reflections that reveal chemical ordering in alloys.
At each reflection, the argument of the atomic scattering factor is
Substitution into the given atomic scattering factor approximation gives
Thus the structure factors are and . The powder diffraction multiplicity is : choose which Miller index is zero in three ways and the signs of the other two in four ways. For , the eight sign choices give . With the specified instrumental and angular factors omitted, the integrated powder diffraction wave intensity is proportional to , so
It would be incorrect to use the same atomic scattering factors at the two different scattering vectors, or to omit the powder diffraction multiplicity.
The stoichiometry fixes the site probabilities to gold and copper. Every site in the average crystal structure therefore has the same atomic scattering factor
The average structure factor is
At the bracket vanishes, while at it is four. Hence
The powder diffraction multiplicity is unchanged, so its coherent Bragg diffraction wave intensity equals the ordered value under the stated equal-lattice constant approximation.
The zero refers to the coherent Bragg diffraction peak of the average crystal structure. A random alloy can still give occupational diffuse scattering at the same scattering vector: the average of the squared amplitude includes fluctuations as well as the square of the average amplitude. Such background is not a surviving Bragg diffraction peak.
Use the same atomic basis phases as in the ordered structure factor, replacing each atomic scattering factor by its site average. For the reflection with equal integer parity,
Conservation of the total composition removes the alloy sublattice order parameter from this amplitude. For the reflection with mixed integer parity,
The coherent powder diffraction wave intensities consequently satisfy
Here the lattice constant, atomic scattering factors, powder diffraction multiplicities, and omitted experimental factors are held fixed. The ratio of a superlattice reflection to a fundamental reflection can therefore measure the magnitude of the alloy sublattice order parameter.
At a point and its glide partner have equal scattering amplitudes and relative phase . Their joint contribution to the structure factor is proportional to
It vanishes for odd . Hence the allowed-condition statement is
This is a systematic absence: it follows independently of the numerical Fe and Se atomic scattering factors. Explicitly, the supplied basis gives
and both braces vanish when is odd. When the sum is even a reflection is symmetry-allowed, but an accidental cancellation for particular scattering factors or experimental conditions can still make its intensity small. The glide alone does not promise that every allowed reflection has a nonzero measured intensity.
Use fractional coordinates and the structure factor convention
For real atomic scattering factors, , immediately proving Friedel's law. If an inversion centre is chosen as origin, each site at has an identical partner at , with the same possibly complex atomic scattering factor. Each pair contributes ; sites fixed by inversion modulo a lattice translation also have even phase factors at reciprocal-lattice vectors. Hence
even for scalar anomalous X-ray scattering in a centrosymmetric structure. This last equality is an equality of amplitudes, not generally complex conjugacy.
Write , where the four-site orbit has structure factor
A cyclic permutation of fixes the first term and permutes the remaining three. Thus . Substituting exchanges the first and second exponentials and the third and fourth, with the common coefficient :
The two forms of this phase, and , agree for integer indices. Multiplication by a unit-modulus phase preserves intensity, irrespective of whether is real or complex. Since the phase is independent of and atomic species, it also multiplies the total structure factor of the crystal.
For neutron energy loss, . Write . The neutron dispersion , or , gives
A triangle of these wavevectors exists if
With , the requested momentum transfers have . Consequently
For example is too small even for forward scattering at these unequal neutron energies, and exceeds the backscattering maximum. This identifies accessible reciprocal lattice points, not guaranteed nonzero intensity: a one-phonon structure factor contains the atomic scattering lengths, eigenvectors and factors . A transverse eigenvector perpendicular to may be invisible, and basis interference can cause extinctions. The supplied geometry and cell constants do not specify that full intensity selection rule.
X-ray diffraction arises predominantly from electromagnetic scattering by the electronic charge distribution. For elastic scattering, contributions from different unit cells interfere constructively at a reciprocal lattice vector, while the unit-cell structure factor weights the different atoms and their positions. The atomic X-ray scattering factor generally decreases with increasing momentum transfer because an extended electron cloud scatters out of phase with itself. Heavy atoms often scatter more strongly, making a light atom difficult to locate beside a heavy one; near an absorption edge, anomalous dispersion changes the contrast and can provide additional chemical sensitivity.
In neutron diffraction, the strong interaction with atomic nuclei supplies a short-range nuclear scattering amplitude. Its coherent scattering length depends on isotope and does not vary monotonically with atomic number; isotope substitution can therefore give useful contrast, and some light elements can be prominent. A neutron's magnetic moment also couples to magnetic moments in a specimen, so magnetic diffraction measures ordered spin structures. Absorption and incoherent scattering depend strongly on isotope as well. The nuclear scattering length is approximately independent of momentum transfer in the usual thermal-neutron regime, whereas magnetic scattering has a form factor reflecting the electronic magnetization distribution.
Electron diffraction probes the electrostatic potential of both nuclei and electrons. The electron's charge makes scattering strong, allowing thin specimens or surfaces to be studied with intense signals. Strong interaction also makes multiple, dynamical scattering more important, so electron diffraction intensities often cannot be interpreted as a simple single-scattering structure factor squared. Transmission geometry needs electron-transparent material; reflected low-energy electrons provide a surface-sensitive geometry. All three methods use phase-sensitive interference to reveal periodic structure, but their scattering interactions, penetration, sample requirements and contrast differ.
Use the scattering vector ; reversing its sign conjugates the following amplitudes without changing the intensities. In the kinematic approximation, the atomic scattering factor of atom is
Atoms at therefore give the scattering amplitude
Here is the single-electron amplitude; is the unit cell structure factor, and is the geometrical lattice sum. If the crystal has repeats along , the latter factor is a product of geometric series, whose magnitudes contain
The sharp constructive peaks occur when every . Thus a permitted reflection has wavevector change equal to a reciprocal lattice vector, with and the additional elastic condition . A finite crystal broadens these peaks; it does not impose an exact delta-function selection on every scattered photon.
In the electron-count estimate , , the structure factors are and . Thus a single-directed-reflection estimate is
A powder X-ray diffraction peak collects all equivalent reflections. The powder diffraction multiplicities are eight for and six for , so the multiplicity-and-electron-count estimate is
At the two sublattice amplitudes are opposite in phase and nearly cancel; at their relative phase is a quarter cycle, so this cancellation does not occur. In silicon, the two atomic scattering factors are identical and the diamond cubic structure has an exactly forbidden reflection, while remains allowed in the kinematic approximation.
The numerical ratio neglects the angular dependence of the atomic scattering factors, the Lorentz-polarization factor and thermal-motion corrections. No wavelength or measurement geometry is supplied to refine those factors. This is therefore a stated structural estimate, rather than a unique precision ratio of measured peak areas.