As a joint venture, CMC and the materials-division at Dept. of Physics has procured a new SmartLab multi-diffractometer, which has now been installed in the CMC DiffractometerLab at Dept. of Chemistry.

The SmartLab, delivered by Rigaku (Japan) is a state-of-the art instrument capable of (1) measuring crystal structures, roughness, reflectivity, pole figures, etc. in thin-film crystals, (2) do high-resolution Powder X-ray diffraction in different sample geometries, (3) area-resolved structure analysis and (4) perform Small-Angle X-ray Scattering measurements on nanoparticles.

The diffractometer is equipped with a cryo-cooler and a high-temperature furnace which, between them, allow thin-films as well as powder-diffraction to be analyzed in the temperature range -196 C to +1000 C.

Due to the very powerful rotating-anode X-ray source, measurements can also be made "in situ" - meaning the use of rapid aqcuisition of the diffraction patterns which in turn reveal the time-evolution of structural changes in the material.