This series of books, which is published at the rate of about one per
year, addresses fundamental problems in materials science. The contents
cover a broad range of topics from small clusters of atoms to
engineering materials and involve chemistry, physics, materials science
and engineering, with length scales ranging from Ångstroms up to
millimeters. The emphasis is on basic science rather than on
applications. Each book focuses on a single area of current interest and
brings together leading experts to give an up-to-date discussion of
their work and the work of others. Each article contains enough
references that the interested reader can access the relevant
literature. Thanks are given to the Center for Fundamental Materials
Research at Michigan State University for supporting this series. M.F.
Thorpe, Series Editor E-mail: thorpe @ pa.msu.edu East Lansing, Michigan
PREFACE One of the most challenging problems in the study of structure
is to characterize the atomic short-range order in materials. Long-range
order can be determined with a high degree of accuracy by analyzing
Bragg peak positions and intensities in data from single crystals or
powders. However, information about short-range order is contained in
the diffuse scattering intensity. This is difficult to analyze because
it is low in absolute intensity (though the integrated intensity may be
significant) and widely spread in reciprocal space.
