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Lecture

Crystal Structure Determination by 3D Electron Diffraction

Description

This lecture covers the field of electron crystallography, focusing on crystal structure determination using 3D electron diffraction. It explains the challenges in experimental techniques, crystal tracking, distortions in diffraction patterns, and dealing with dynamical diffraction effects. The lecture showcases the information obtainable from crystallographic investigation, including crystal structure, chemical composition, polymorphism, and molecular connectivity. It also discusses the various advancements in 3D electron diffraction techniques and their applications in nanocrystallography. The speaker delves into the process of collecting data, dealing with dynamical effects in refinement, and the importance of optical distortions and lattice parameters. Additionally, examples of crystal tracking, cocrystals, and absolute structure determination are presented, highlighting the significance of electron crystallography in material science.

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Earth science

Geology: Mineralogy

Related concepts (32)

Precession electron diffraction

Precession electron diffraction (PED) is a specialized method to collect electron diffraction patterns in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). By rotating (precessing) a tilted incident electron beam around the central axis of the microscope, a PED pattern is formed by integration over a collection of diffraction conditions. This produces a quasi-kinematical diffraction pattern that is more suitable as input into direct methods algorithms to determine the crystal structure of the sample.

X-ray crystallography

X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles and intensities of these diffracted beams, a crystallographer can produce a three-dimensional picture of the density of electrons within the crystal. From this electron density, the mean positions of the atoms in the crystal can be determined, as well as their chemical bonds, their crystallographic disorder, and various other information.

Electron crystallography

Electron crystallography is a method to determine the arrangement of atoms in solids using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). It can involve the use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images, electron diffraction patterns including convergent-beam electron diffraction or combinations of these. It has been successful in determining some bulk structures, and also surface structures. Two related methods are low-energy electron diffraction which has solved the structure of many surfaces, and reflection high-energy electron diffraction which is used to monitor surfaces often during growth.

Crystallography

Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The word crystallography is derived from the Ancient Greek word κρύσταλλος (; "clear ice, rock-crystal"), with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and γράφειν (; "to write").

Microcrystal electron diffraction

Microcrystal electron diffraction, or MicroED, is a CryoEM method that was developed by the Gonen laboratory in late 2013 at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. MicroED is a form of electron crystallography where thin 3D crystals are used for structure determination by electron diffraction. Prior to this demonstration, macromolecular (protein) electron crystallography was only used on 2D crystals, for example.

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