Training Diffraction Our laboratory is heavily involved in the crystallography of polycrystalline phases, and offers two training courses. The first five-day course included, at the request of several participants, specific workshops (indexing, Le Bail or Rietveld-type global profile refinements, quantitative phase identification and analysis, microstructural analysis) as well as an introduction to electron diffraction. The second, lasting three days, is aimed at advanced users. <\/p>\n The next Level 2 training session will take place in October 2026 (precise dates to be announced).<\/strong><\/p>\n Contacts :<\/strong><\/p>\n Level 1<\/p><\/h3><\/div> March 16 to 20, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The 34th continuing education course on X-ray, neutron and electron diffraction of polycrystalline materials<\/strong> will be held in Nantes. This is a clear sign of the scientific community’s interest in techniques that enable not only structural refinements<\/strong>, but also the study of crystallite sizes<\/strong>, micro-deformations<\/strong> and proportions of phase mixtures<\/strong> in multiphase systems. This latter aspect allows non-destructive, quantitative phase analysis of high precision, making it industrially very attractive, even when on-line measurements are envisaged. Samples consisting of mixtures of amorphous and crystallized phases of known structure can also be analyzed (e.g. glass crystals). Such results are made possible by the precision<\/strong> of today’s laboratory diffractometers<\/strong>, and by the use of processing programs whose performance<\/strong> is constantly evolving. Our laboratory, heavily involved in the crystallography of polycrystalline phases, offers a five-day training course<\/strong> including specific<\/strong> workshops<\/strong>. Lecturers from several laboratories<\/strong> are associated<\/strong> with our training program, so that you can benefit from the best skills in the fields covered. On the other hand, we will continue to offer our three-day refresher course<\/strong>, introduced in September 2007 and aimed at people with a solid grounding in powder diffraction<\/strong>, and particularly at former participants. For practical organizational reasons, this course will no longer take place in the week following the initial five-day course in March, but in October. A specific letter will be sent out. Level 2<\/p><\/h3><\/div> October 2026 – dates not yet known<\/strong><\/p>\n For 34 years now, we’ve been running a course in Nantes on X-ray, neutron and electron diffraction of polycrystalline materials. At the request of former participants, including yourself, we have now set up a three-day course on ab initio structural determination and Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis. These two subjects, which deal with issues that are distinct but nevertheless complementary to Level 1 training, can be chosen \u00e0 la carte by participants. Tuesday is devoted to ab-initio structural determination, followed by two days (Wednesday and Thursday) dedicated to PDF analysis. These three-day courses are aimed exclusively at people who already have a sound knowledge of powder diffraction (Level 1 training required).<\/strong> The ab-initio<\/em> structural determination<\/strong> day will review the various approaches (direct methods, parallel annealing and charge flipping) used to obtain a structural model prior to any refinement. It will also provide an opportunity to discover the powerful interfacing capabilities of the JANA<\/strong> 2020<\/strong> refinement program to the various approaches. PDF analysis,<\/strong> based on the study of total scattering and therefore applicable to the study of crystallized materials as well as amorphous or vitrocrystalline materials, will be the subject of the next two days. While the PDF technique has long been the almost exclusive domain of large instruments (synchrotron or neutron), the number of studies has steadily increased<\/strong>, and this growth should accelerate with the possibility of carrying out many of these analyses on simple laboratory diffractometers<\/strong>. PDF data will be prepared using PDFGetX2<\/strong> or PDFGetX3<\/strong>, while refinements will be carried out using PDFGUI<\/strong> or MolPDF<\/strong>. For all the topics covered, a large part of the program will be devoted, as usual, to hands-on sessions.
\nby polycrystalline materials<\/span><\/p><\/h2><\/div>\n
\nolivier.hernandez@cnrs-imn.fr<\/a> \/ Maite.Caldes@cnrs-imn.fr<\/a><\/li>\n
\nrichard.baschera@cnrs-imn.fr<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>![](\"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Formation_diffraction.jpg\" "\\"Diffraction_Training\\"")
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