Abstract
Polychromatic microdiffraction is an emerging tool for mapping local crystal structure with submicron three-dimensional resolution. The method is sensitive to the local crystal phase, crystallographic orientation, elastic strain, and lattice curvature. For many materials it is also nondestructive, which allows for unique experiments that probe how particular structural configurations evolve during processing and service. This capability opens up the possibility of testing and guiding theories without the limitations imposed by destructive techniques, surface-limited measurements or ensemble averages. This new capability will impact long-standing issues of materials science ranging from the factors that control anisotropic materials deformation to factors that influence grain growth, grain boundary migration, electromigration and stress driven materials evolution. Such mesoscopic phenomena are at the heart of virtually all materials processing and form the basis for modern materials engineering. Here we describe the state-of-the-art, and discuss new instrumentation with the promise of better sensitivity and better real and reciprocal space resolution. Example science and future research opportunities are described.
