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EPFLx: Synchrotrons and X-Ray Free Electron Lasers (part 2)

The first MOOC to provide an extensive introduction to synchrotron and XFEL facilities and associated techniques and applications.

6 weeks
5–7 hours per week
Self-paced
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Free
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Starts Nov 8
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Synchrotrons and X-Ray Free Electron Lasers (part 2)

About this course

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Are you interested in investigating materials and their properties with unsurpassed accuracy and fidelity? Synchrotrons and XFELs count as Science’s premier microscopic tool in scientific endeavours as diverse as molecular biology, environmental science, cultural heritage, catalytical chemistry, and the electronic properties of novel materials, to name but a few examples.

This second of two sister courses is pitched at a level to provide valuable insights to a scientifically diverse audience into the broad spectrum of methods that use synchrotrons, including diffraction and elastic scattering; absorption, fluorescence, and photoelectron spectroscopies; and various imaging techniques, including tomography, coherent lensless imaging, and ptychography.

At a glance

  • Institution: EPFLx
  • Subject: Physics
  • Level: Advanced
  • Prerequisites:

    1st-year undergraduate mathematical concepts.

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English

What you'll learn

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What you’ll learn:

  • Elastic scattering and diffraction
  • X-ray spectroscopies
  • X-ray tomography
  • Lensless imaging techniques

Syllabus

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Week 1: Diffraction and scattering basics and theory

Introduction, including examples; basic concepts in crystallography, elastic scattering, and diffraction including the phase problem and how this can be resolved. New approaches in macromolecular crystallography, including artificial intelligence/machine learning.

Week 2: Diffraction techniques

Single-crystal diffraction (Laue method and rotation method), powder diffraction, surface diffraction, small-angle x-ray scattering. x-ray reflectometry.

Week 3: Aspects of x-ray spectroscopy theory and absorption spectroscopy

Energy levels, bonding, energy bands, selection rules for dipole transitions, Fermi's Golden rule. Absorption techniques, including XANES, STXM, PEEM, and EXAFS.

Week 4: X-ray emission spectroscopies and electron spectroscopies

X-ray fluorescence, resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ambient-pressure XPS, x-ray photoelectron diffraction, angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, hard x-ray variants of photoelectron spectroscopies.

Week 5: Tomography and other full-field x-ray microscopies

X-ray tomography basics, including back projections, Radon transforms, and the Fourier slice theorem. Practical considerations. Phase-contrast tomography. Fast tomography. Dark-field and Zernike microscopies.

Week 6: Lensless imaging and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy

Speckle. coherent x-ray diffractive imaging, ptychographic tomography and laminography. Higher-dimensional imaging. X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy.

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners residing in one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. edX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.

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Price

$169 USD

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Expires on Dec 20

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