Phonon dispersion studies of crystalline materials using high-energy resolution inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS)

Inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) with meV energy resolution has become a valuable spectroscopic tool in the last 10 years, complementing the well-established coherent inelastic neutron scattering (INS) techniques. In the study of crystalline systems, IXS is the tool of choice in cases where either samples are available only in small quantities or where samples are studied under very high pressure. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), there are currently two beam-lines (ID16 and ID28) dedicated to phonon spectroscopy. In order to illustrate the present state of the art, we present two experiments that have been recently performed on the two beam-lines. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.