Incommensurate Crystallography (International Union of Crystallography Monographs on Crystallography)

The crystallography of aperiodic crystals employs many concepts that are routinely applied to periodic crystals. The present text has been written under the assumption that the reader is familiar with concepts like space group symmetry, Bragg reflections and vector calculus. This assumption is motivated by the recognition that readers interested in aperiodic crystals will often have a background in the solid state sciences, and by the fact that many books are available that deal with the crystallography of tronslational symmetric structures at both introductory and advanced levels. For many years it was believed that translational symmetry would be the fundamental property of crystal structures of natural and synthetic compounds. It is now recognised that many compounds crystallise without translational symmetry of their atomic structures.'Incommensurate Crystallography'gives a comprehensive account of the superspace theory for the description of crystal structures and symmetries of these incommensurately modulated crystals and incommensurate composite crystals. It thus provides the necessary background for quantitative analysis of incommensurate crystals by methods in Solid State Chemistry and Solid State Physics. The second half of'Incommensurate Crystallography'is devoted to crystallographic methods of structural analysis of incommensurate compounds. Thorough accounts are given of the diffraction by incommensurate crystals, the choice of parameters in structure refinements, and the use of superspace in analysing crystal structures. The presentation of methods of structure determination includes modern methods like the Maximum Entropy Method and Charge Flipping. Describing The Structures And Symmetries Of Incommensurately Modulated Crystals And Composite Crystals, This Work Also Presents Crystallographic Methods Of Structural Analysis Of Incommensurate Crystals. It Provides The Necessary Background For A Skilled Application Of Superspace Methods To Aperiodic Crystals. Sander Van Smaalen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.