High Resolution Neutron Powder Diffraction

The theories of neutron diffraction and X-ray diffraction are basically the same and follow the same mathematical form. The difference lies in the essential difference in the interaction between neutrons and X-rays and matter, and when X-rays and neutrons are scattered by different elements, The relative scattering capabilities are also very different, making the two techniques neutron and X-ray diffraction complementary to each other. Therefore, neutron diffraction has obvious advantages when identifying low atomic number atoms in high atomic number environments, distinguishing adjacent elements in the periodic table, or distinguishing different isotopes.