The Rietveld Method

Book excerpt: The Rietveld method is a powerful and relatively new method for extracting detailed crystal structural information from X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. Since then structural details dictate much of the physical and chemical attributes of materials, knowledge of them is crucial toour understanding of those properties and our ability to manipulate them. Since most materials of technological interest are not available as single crystals but often are available only in polycrystalline or powder form, the Rietveld method has become very important and is now widely used in allbranches of science that deal with materials at the atomic level.