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Scientists and engineers are increasingly using synchrotron radiation, largely due to its special characteristics, including high flux (intensity, high temporal resolution), low divergence (high spatial resolution, efficient focusing), linear polarization, and high penetration power. While surface-sensitive optical, electron microscopy and certain X-ray techniques (grazing incidence diffraction, reflectivity) tackle many problems, materials engineering largely relies on the volume properties of materials: residual strains and textures in the interior of building structures, overall phase composition, slip systems, etc.
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Norbert Schell (2017) studied this question.
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