Powder, Austria

The Third European Powder Diffraction Conference, September 25-28, 1993 (Technical University of Vienna), attracted 340 diffractionists from 26 countries. Invited lectures included: Structural disorder: what you can learn from diffuse scattering by reverse Monte Carlo modeling (R. L. McGreevy); Grazing incidence powder diffraction and reflectometry - a powerful combination for nondestructive thin film analysis (H. E. Göbel); Neutron powder diffraction and magnetic structures (F. Bourée); Characteristically asymmetric X-ray line broadening, an indication of microscopic residual stresses (T. Ungar); Angle-dispersive powder diffraction at high pressure (M. I. McMahon); and Powder diffraction with synchrotron radiation: new perspectives (P. Sourti).

The following nine major topics were addressed with the number of papers/posters shown in parentheses. Diffraction under nonambient conditions (29), characterization of thin films (14), structures and phase transitions of magnetic materials (10), amorphous and disordered material (14), qualitative and quantitative phase analysis (15), stress, texture, and crystallite size analysis (18), crystal structure determination from powder diffraction data (39), new instrumentation and experimental methods (16), advances in diffraction software (14).

A commercial exhibition (13 manufacturers), a workshop on the ICDD Powder Diffraction File (conducted by J. W. Visser and W. Eysel), and a report on the feasibility study of the project EURO-CRYST (an Austrian Initiative for European Collaboration in Crystal Growth Research and Technology) presented by A. Preisinger and A. F. Witt rounded out the program.