X-ray diffraction is a tool for the investigation of the fine structure of matter. This technique had its beginnings in von Laue's discovery in 1912 that crystals diffract x-rays, the manner of the diffraction revealing the structure of the crystal. At first, x-ray diffraction was used only for the determination of crystal structure. Later on, however, other uses were developed, and today the method is applied, not only to structure determination, but to such diverse problems as chemical analysis and stress measurement, to the study of phase equilibria and the measurement of particle size, to the determination of the orientation of one crystal or the ensemble of orientations in.
