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  4. Beyond Bragg: Exploring Local Atomic Structure with Pair Distribution Function Analysis

Beyond Bragg: Exploring Local Atomic Structure with Pair Distribution Function Analysis

Understanding material properties requires knowing not just how atoms are arranged on average, but how they are coordinated at the local level. While conventional crystallography has long been the standard tool for structural characterization, it is often the near-neighbor atomic environment that drives a material's behavior. 

The atomic pair distribution function (PDF), extracted from total scattering diffraction data, provides direct access to this local structure - and has grown from a niche synchrotron technique into a broadly applicable method spanning catalysis, energy materials, quantum systems, and cultural heritage science. With modern laboratory diffractometers now capable of delivering high-quality PDF data, the barrier to entry has never been lower. 

This seminar will cover the fundamentals of PDF analysis, showcase cutting-edge scientific applications, and outline practical considerations for laboratory-based measurements.

Key Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the principles of PDF analysis
  2. Identify when PDF is the right tool
  3. Know the experimental requirements
  4. Apply PDF to real scientific problems
Dr. Semih Gulec (Language: English)
Semih Gulec

Dr. Semih Gulec holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Lamar University, with research spanning solid-liquid interfaces, adhesion, and tribology. Since joining Anton Paar USA in 2019 as an Application Scientist, he has supported customers across a range of materials characterization techniques, and now focuses on X-ray structure analysis - including XRD, SAXS, and non-ambient diffraction applications.