Meeting report
Electron Crystallography School
Moscow, Russia – June, 2003
A school on electron crystallography was held in Moscow in June, 2003 at the Inst. of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Science (ICRAS). The school was organized and supported by the IUCr Commission on Electron Diffraction. The school celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of IC RAS where the method of structural analysis using electron diffraction (EDSA) was born and developed. The founders of the EDSA method in Russia were Z. Pinsker and B. Vainshtein, who became the director of the Inst. of Crystallography. A wide range of structures including thin films, metals and alloys, oxides, semi-conductors, catalysts and complex minerals have been studied by electron crystallography in many labs around the world.
The objective of this school was to provide basic instruction for PhD students and scientists interested in applying electron crystallographic techniques in structure studies of inorganic materials and nanostructures. The subjects of the school were: image formation and diffraction, kinematical and dynamical theory; direct methods and maximum entropy in theory and practice for crystal and surface structure determination; data processing in HREM images, crystal structure determination; quantitative CBED and its application to crystal structure determination; precise electron diffractometry for quantitative crystal potential and bonding analysis; electron diffraction on specific samples (texture patterns for minerals, diffraction on gases etc.); CCD cameras and image plates for electron crystallography; and orientation imaging microscopy. Practical training with software and exercises was an essential part of the School.
Experts in the field of electronic crystallography taught the school: L. D. Marks (USA), K. Tsuda (Japan), Hua Jiang (Finland), T. Wierich (Germany), M. Jemmi (Italy), Rene de Kloe (USA). Lecture were also presented by: A. Kiselev, A. Avilov and V. Klechkovskaja (Russia), L. Vilkov (Russia), and M. Nikolsky (Russia).
The majority of the students (80 %) were from Russia. A visit to Moscow’s Kremlin made an indelible impression on the participants of the school.
The school would not have been possible without the financial support from the IUCr, the Ministry of Science and Technologies of Russia, Interactive Corp. (JEOL) and EDAX that made it possible to solve many organizational problems and provided financial support to young scientists. The assistance of the former Chairman of the IUCr Commission on Electron Diffraction, D. Dorset, and the organizer of previous schools on electronic crystallography in Europe, Sven Hofmoller, is greatly acknowledged.
Anatoly Avilov