X rays - discovered by W.C. Rontgen in 1895 - have become established as an invaluable probe of the structure of matter. Progress in understanding the interaction between x rays and matter and of exploiting X rays experimentally has been increasing steadily since its discovery. In more recent times this has lead to unraveling the structure and morphology of compounds of increasing complexity like self-assembling molecular systems, including functional units of bio-organisms like DNA and proteins. MRSEC has funded within the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering an X-Ray Facility with several modern instruments for x-ray scattering (small, intermediate and wide angles), powder x-ray diffraction, and x-ray reflectivity studies of thin films.

For SAXS and WAXS a versatile instrument is available from Molecular Metrology Inc. (presently sold as Rigaku S-Max3000).

For powder x-ray diffraction a PANalytical X'PertPert Material Research Diffractometer is available.

Also, the PANalytical system mentioned above can be modified with a different sample stage and a Xe-filled proportional counter to allow for x-ray reflectivity measurements.

For More Information click this link to the X-Ray Facility Website