On the Method of Constructing the Radial Distribution Function in the Structure of Amorphous Materials on the Basis of Diffraction Data

Abstract

The method of constructing the radial distribution function, proposed by the authors previously, has been developed. The method includes calculation of the normalization factor and subtraction of the background caused by incoherent scattering in the amorphous material. Software is developed based on the proposed algorithms. The reported technique for processing the angular dependence of the scattered radiation intensity is approved on well-studied amorphous germanium and tungsten trioxide WO₃. This technique makes it possible to perform a reliable (accurate to few percent) normalization of intensity and determine the coordination number n₁ for an arbitrarily specified density of material, independent of the shape of the first coordination peak. In sum, a universal software tool has been elaborated, which makes it possible to investigate the structure of amorphous and polycrystalline inorganic materials by constructing the radial distribution functions, using diffraction of radiation of any type in these materials. All calculations are performed in the automatic mode.