Precision electron diffraction structure analysis and its use in physics and chemistry of solids

The present level of the precision electron diffraction provides the quantitative analysis of the electrostatic potential and electron density in crystals and allows us to approach the direct study of properties of solids by electron diffraction. This is demonstrated by examples of ionic compounds with an NaCl structure and a covalent Ge crystal. Using the analytical structure models of crystals, one can quantitatively characterize chemical bonding and study topological characteristics of the electrostatic potential by electron diffraction data. It is established that the internal crystal field is well structurized, whereas the topological analysis revealed some important characteristics of its structure. These data considerably enrich our knowledge on atomic interactions in crystals.