Bragg scattering

Bragg scattering demonstration

Gervais Chapuis and Ivan Orlov
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland


The aim of this Bragg scattering simulation is to understand why a single crystal is diffracting X-rays in specific spatial directions. Imagine that an incident monochromatic wave impinges on a array of atoms distributed on a regular grid. Each atom will redirect in phase a series of individual waves which are interfering together. The aim of the simulation is to find the directions in space where we observe constructive interferences.

The interested user can use this simuation to derive Bragg’s equation 2dsinθ = λ where d is the distance between scattering points, θ is the angle between the incident an diffracted angle and λ the wavelength.