Response to Fraser & Wark's comments on A new theory for X-ray diffraction

Abstract

The criticisms of my theory, as given by Fraser & Wark [(2018), Acta Cryst. A74, 447–456], are built on a misunderstanding of the concept and the methodology I have used. The assumption they have made rules out my description from which they conclude that my theory is proved to be wrong. They assume that I have misunderstood the diffraction associated with the shape of a crystal and my calculation is only relevant to a parallelepiped and even that I have got wrong. It only appears wrong to Fraser & Wark because the effect I predict has nothing to do with the crystal shape. The effect though can be measured as well as the crystal shape effects. This response describes my reasoning behind the theory, how it can be related to the Ewald sphere construction, and the build-up of the full diffraction pattern from all the scatterers in a stack of planes. It is the latter point that makes the Fraser & Wark analysis incomplete. The description given in this article describes my approach much more precisely with reference to the Ewald sphere construction. Several experiments are described that directly measure the predictions of the new theory, which are explained with reference to the Ewald sphere description. In its simplest terms the new theory can be considered as giving a thickness to the Ewald sphere surface, whereas in the conventional theory it has no thickness. Any thickness immediately informs us that the scattering from a peak at the Bragg angle does not have to be in the Bragg condition to be observed. I believe the conventional theory is a very good approximation, but as soon as it is tested with careful experiments it is shown to be incomplete. The new theory puts forward the idea that there is persistent intensity at the Bragg scattering angle outside the Bragg condition. This intensity is weak (∼10−5) but can be observed in careful laboratory experiments, despite being on the limit of observation, yet it has a profound impact on how we should interpret diffraction patterns.