A device to host a crystallization medium, such as a solution, for crystal growth and a system for X-ray diffraction experiments to determine the atomic structure of crystals. A plurality of cells have a well, a sample holder placed in the well. The solution is hosted in the sample holder between thin-plates or one thin-plate. A cap seals an opening to the cell and each sample holder can be extracted independently from each well. A system for automated X-ray diffraction experiments for small crystals in the sample holder extracted from the wells utilizes an ultrasonic acoustic levitator to determine the crystal structure at atomic resolution. X-ray diffraction images are generated by scanning the X-ray beam over the levitated sample holder along a spiral trajectory by rotating the sample holder and moving in the direction perpendicular to the X-ray beam and the rotation axis at the same time.

A method for screening a target compound for polymorphic forms is provided. The method comprises providing a library of mixed-crystal seeds, each mixed-crystal seed consisting essentially of the target compound and at least one structural analog that is structurally analogous to the target compound; and for each mixed-crystal seed: introducing the mixed-crystal seed into a crystallization medium comprising the target compound, under conditions suitable for crystallization of the target compound; monitoring the formation of crystals of the target compound; and when formed, characterizing the crystals of the target compound.

An object of the invention is to quantitatively evaluate crystal growth amount in a wide range from an undergrowth state to an overgrowth state with nondestructive inspection. By using a plenty of image feature values such as pattern brightness, a pattern area and a pattern shape which are extracted from an SEM image, and depending on whether brightness inside a pattern is lower than brightness outside the pattern (401), undergrowth and overgrowth is determined (402, 405). Based on a brightness difference or the pattern area, a growth amount index or a normality index of crystal growth in a concave pattern such as a hole pattern or a trench pattern is calculated (404, 407).

A fixed target sample holder for serial synchrotron crystallography comprising a goniometer compatible base, a carrier, a sample holding insert which can be placed into the carrier. The sample holding insert comprising fiducials and windows, wherein each of the windows are respectively configured to accept a sample. The windows can also have holes and texture within each window. Additionally, a sample loading workstation for loading crystals into the sample holder and the removal of excess liquid from the sample, comprising a humidity-controlled chamber, a sample support within the chamber, a capture to place the goniometer-compatible base, and a channel in communication with the chamber that allows for the flow of humidified air into the chamber.

The present invention provides a novel method for identifying a molecular structure by a single crystal X-ray analysis. A single crystal that gives an X-ray diffraction spectrum sufficient for determining a structure of a molecule can be efficiently obtained by including a test molecule in a metal complex, and then crystallizing the test-molecule included in the metal complex. By analyzing this single crystal by an X-ray analysis, it is possible to determine a structure of the test molecule without obtaining a single crystal of the test molecule. With the novel method according to the present invention, the structure of a test molecule in a trace amount of a sample can also be determined.

A method for accurately characterizing a crystal three-dimensional orientation and a crystallographic orientation, including the following steps: acquiring a two-dimensional structure topography and an EBSD pattern in an area to-be-detected of a crystal material; using three-dimensional image analysis software to perform three-dimensional image synthesis through so as to obtain a three-dimensional topography; extracting a three-dimensional orientation of a characteristic topography in a coordinate system where the three-dimensional topography is located; and by converting the three-dimensional orientation into a crystallographic coordinate system obtained by EBSD, obtaining the crystallographic orientation of the characteristic topography. By using the method, the orientation of characteristic organization structures of various materials and the crystallographic orientation may be simultaneously analyzed, which has a great significance for research on the material crystal growth orientation and growth behavior.

A method for quantitatively characterizing a dendrite segregation and dendrite spacing of a high-temperature alloy ingot is disclosed. The method includes preparation and surface treatment of the high-temperature alloy ingot, selection of calibration sample and determination of an element content, establishment of quantitative method for elements in micro-beam X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, quantitative distribution analysis of element components of the high-temperature alloy, quantitative characterization of characteristic element line distribution of high-temperature alloy, and analysis of a characteristic element line distribution map and statistics of a secondary dendrite spacing.

A method for accurately characterizing a crystal three-dimensional orientation and a crystallographic orientation, including the following steps: acquiring a two-dimensional structure topography and an EBSD pattern in an area to-be-detected of a crystal material; using three-dimensional image analysis software to perform three-dimensional image synthesis through so as to obtain a three-dimensional topography; extracting a three-dimensional orientation of a characteristic topography in a coordinate system where the three-dimensional topography is located; and by converting the three-dimensional orientation into a crystallographic coordinate system obtained by EBSD, obtaining the crystallographic orientation of the characteristic topography. By using the method, the orientation of characteristic organization structures of various materials and the crystallographic orientation may be simultaneously analyzed, which has a great significance for research on the material crystal growth orientation and growth behavior.

A diffraction device and a method for non-destructive testing of internal crystal orientation uniformity of a workpiece. The diffraction device comprises: an X-ray irradiation system used for irradiating X-ray to a measuring part of a measured sample (4); an X-ray detection system used for detecting a plurality of diffraction X-rays formed by diffracting the X-ray with a plurality of parts of the measured sample (4), to measure X-ray diffraction intensity distribution of the measured sample (4). The detected X-ray is short-wavelength feature X-ray, and the X-ray detection system is an array detection system (5). The method comprises steps of selecting the short-wavelength feature X-ray, performing texture analysis on the measured sample (4), and determining a diffraction vector Q to be measured; and obtaining the X-ray diffraction intensity of the corresponding part of the measured sample (4). The method can rapidly and non-destructively test the internal crystal orientation uniformity of a centimeter-thick workpiece in its entire thickness direction, and implement online testing and characterization of the internal crystal orientation uniformity of the centimeter-thick workpiece in the entire thickness direction of its movement trajectory.

Methods and systems are provided for serial femtosecond crystallography for reducing the vast amount of waste of injected crystals practiced with traditional continuous flow injections. A micrometer-scale 3-D printed water-in-oil droplet generator device includes an oil phase inlet channel, an aqueous phase inlet channel, a droplet flow outlet channel, and two embedded non-contact electrodes. The inlet and outlet channels are connected internally at a junction. The electrodes comprise gallium metal injected within the 3-D printed device. Voltage across the electrodes generates water-in-oil droplets, determines a rate for a series of droplets, or triggers a phase shift in the droplets. An external trigger generates the droplets based on the frequency of an XFEL utilized in droplet detection, thereby synchronizing a series of droplets with x-ray pulses for efficient crystal detection. The generated droplets can be coupled to an SFX with XFEL experiment compatible with common liquid injector such as a GDVN.