Welcome

Thank you for joining us for the first issue of The Bridge, Rigaku’s eNewsletter focused on materials analysis through the use of X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. A bridge is often used to symbolize a connection or link between two places, and thus we felt The Bridge would be the perfect name for our new eNewsletter, as we hope that it will act as a vehicle for the transmission of ideas and information between Rigaku and interested readers around the world.  And a bridge is a two-way structure, a concept that we will keep in mind as we not only provide information about Rigaku, but also report on interesting research and the associated laboratories around the world, publish technical book reviews that might help our readers in their work, and highlight general news topics that are of interest to many people involved in materials analysis.

Customer in the Spotlight Dr. Jozef Keckes Associate Professor, Montanuniversität , Leoben, Austria Professor Keckes is a scientist with many interests. He uses XRD, SAXS, WAXS, and GISAXS to study in-situ X-ray scattering on micro- and nano-scaled materials, structure and mechanical properties of thin films, structure-property relationships in biological materials, and for applications of synchrotron radiation. Read more >

Customer Testimonial Matsubara Laboratory Group – Kyoto University The XtaLAB mini – benchtop single crystal analysis In February 2013, two XtaLAB minis were installed as specialized laboratory instruments for a materials chemistry course, located in Prof. Matsubara’s laboratory, and as shared equipment for the chemical systems and materials engineering courses. Read more >

Featured Application Note Trace Elements in Aqueous Solution with UltraCarry® Elemental analysis of aqueous solutions into the low ppm and sub-ppm concentration ranges was demonstrated, using the advanced Cartesian geometry NEX CG Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer in conjunction with the UltraCarry sample preparation technique. Read more >

Material Analysis in the News Nanotechnology in the News Each month we highlight an area of material analysis and how it is being portrayed in the news. In this issue we highlight nanotechnology. Read more >

Scientific Book Review R in a Nutshell, A Desktop Quick Reference R is a programming language for graphics and statistics. It provides for interactive graphing and analysis. It is much more powerful than wgnuplot but with that comes more structure and perhaps pitfalls. Read more >

Recent Scientific Papers of Interest

Honouring the two Braggs: the first X-ray crystal structure and the first X-ray spectrometer. Helliwell, John R. Crystallography Reviews. Jul–Sep2013, Vol. 19 Issue 3, p108–116. 9p.
DOI: 10.1080/0889311X.2013.797410.

Pt and Pt-Ru catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells deposited onto carbide derived carbon supports. Lust, E.; Härk, E.; Nerut, J.; Vaarmets, K. Electrochimica Acta. Jul2013, Vol. 101, p130–141. 12p. DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2012.10.024.

A new compound in kidney stones? Powder X-ray diffraction study of calcium glycinate trihydrate. Le Bail, Armel; Daudon, Michel; Bazin, Dominique. Acta Crystallographica: Section C (International Union of Crystallography – IUCr). Jul2013, Vol. 69 Issue 7, p734–737. 4p.
DOI: 10.1107/S0108270113015709.

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Ln₂CoMnO₆(Ln=Dy and La) Produced by Combustion Synthesis. C. Filho, Pedro; Barrozo, Petrucio; Landinez-Tellez, D.; Jardim, R.; Azevedo, W.; Albino Aguiar, J. Journal of Superconductivity & Novel Magnetism. Jul2013, Vol. 26 Issue 7, p2521–2524. 4p. 1 Chart, 3 Graphs. DOI: 10.1007/s10948-012-1689-8.

Inferring planar disorder in close-packed structures via ε–machine spectral reconstruction theory: examples from simulated diffraction patterns.: Varn, D. P.; Canright, G. S.; Crutchfield, J. P. Acta Crystallographica: Section A (International Union of Crystallography – IUCr). Jul2013, Vol. 69 Issue 4, p413–426. 14p. DOI: 10.1107/S0108767313008738.

X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and raman spectroscopy studies of microstructure of BiFeO₃ thin films on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si (111) substrates. Fan, Fei; Luo, Bingcheng; Duan, Mengmeng; Chen, Changle. Journal of Applied Spectroscopy. Jul2013, Vol. 80 Issue 3, p378–383. 6p. DOI: 10.1007/s10812-013-9777-5.