Expressions of interest for this event will be opening in April 2025
The powder diffraction teams from the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS) and the Australian Synchrotron (AS) are hosting a 3-day powder diffraction workshop at ANSTO, Lucas Heights. The workshop is for beginners and aimed at post-graduate students and early career researchers.
This workshop aims to cover all stages of sample analysis, beginning at sample preparation, experimental setup through to instrument characterisation and qualitative and quantitative analysis. Topics will include: basic crystallography, search/matching, indexing, geometry corrections, proposal writing and tips on planning your experiment. There will be introductory talks on structure solution, quantitative phase analysis and engineering materials.
Demonstration sessions will be used to practically reinforce the material presented and will be split into 2 parallel sessions using TOPAS and GSAS II.
Workshop places are limited to 30 and priority will be given to Early Career Researchers and PhD students with synchrotron or neutron data or who have beamtime allocated.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop attendees should be able to:
| Understand the basics of powder diffraction | Understand the different information content of a power diffraction pattern and their physical meaning, including peak position, peak intensity, and peak profile | Identify symmetry operations and elements in structures, and understand the differences between crystal systems |
| Index the powder diffraction pattern of a simple unknown phase | Model powder diffraction data using GSAS-II or Topas | Refine the wavelength of a standard sample measured using X-rays and neutrons |
| Carry out accurate LeBail/Pawley and Rietveld refinements measured using X-rays and neutron | Visually interpret the quality of a model fit to the data and identify areas for improvement | Find reliable powder diffraction resources to self-learn and develop your own skills. |
Important Dates
Interested applicants are required to submit an expression of interest form. Participants will be selected based on their responses to ensure the best fit with the program.
Submissions open: April 2025 (date TBA)
Submission closes: May 2025
Notification of successful application by: June 2025
Successful Applicants
Approved Registrations will include:
- All lectures and practicals
- Accommodation (participants on the east coast of Australia will be offered 2 nights accommodation, others may be provided with 3 nights)
- Bus transfers to and from ANSTO and the hotel
- Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea on each of the days
- Workshop event dinner on one night
*Any non-Australian citizens will require a valid entry visa. (Visa invitation letters can only be issued to successful applicants)
For more information
Mon- Fri
9am - 4pm (AEST)
