National Synchrotron Light Source Seminar

"Solid-state amorphous systems display no long-range atomic order as is seen in crystals, but do have a subtle local atomic structure that can be studied statistically. The structure of amorphous systems can be most completely understood by looking at the problem from a variety of experimental perspectives. We have probed the sub-nanometer (short range) atomic structure of a model metallic glass system using resonant x-ray scattering (also known as anomalous scattering), a technique that yields element-specific short range structural formation. This same palladium-based glass system was also probed
by fluctuation electron microscopy, an electron scattering technique that is sensitive to nanometer-scale (medium range) atomic structure.
Reverse Monte Carlo computer simulations using the x-ray data together with fluctuation electron microscopy simulations can be used to begin to unravel some of the structural themes in glass systems."
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The resonant scattering work we did at SSRL involved working with the Pd Ni P amorphous metal system. We did experiments at x-ray energies near the Pd and Ni edges to get a look at the local atomic environment around these atoms.