From Grain Boundaries to Single Defects: A Review of Coherent Methods for Materials Imaging in the X-ray Sciences

This review summarizes the literature describing recent advances in the coherent x-ray sciences for the high-resolution characterization of materials. The principles and some of the main experimental techniques as well as their applications are discussed. The advantages of x-ray methods for characterizing 3D microstructures as well as for characterizing plasticity in the bulk become clear from the examples presented. Materials that exhibit size effects within the 0.1-10-mu m range benefit enormously from these techniques, and development of the relevant x-ray methods will add to our fundamental understanding of these phenomena. Many of the ideas that have developed in the coherent x-ray science literature have been enabled through advances in x-ray source and detection technology, which has occurred over the past 10 years or so. It is a topic of considerable importance to consider how these techniques, which have matured rapidly, may be best applied to materials imaging in order to meet the growing needs of the community. As coherent x-ray methods for characterizing materials at multiple length scales have developed, several key applications for these techniques have emerged. The key breakthroughs that have been enabled by these new methods are discussed throughout this review, together with an examination of some of the problems that will be addressed by these techniques within the next few years.