Principle of powder diffraction
X-ray diffraction characterization of crystallized solids

Readers are also referred to the [1][2][3][4] articles in Techniques de l'Ingénieur, the first three of which deal with X-ray characterization.

Historically, after Röntgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, it wasn't until 1912 that Laue came up with the idea of using a crystal as a diffraction grating. Since the wavelength of X-rays is of the same order of magnitude as the distances between atoms in matter, of the order of an angstrom (0.1 nm), diffraction patterns or spots were observed, confirming the periodic structure of crystallized media.

The first simple crystal structures were determined by W.H. and W.L. Bragg in 1913....