MIT IAP 2026—Strategies for X-ray Structural Analysis

Instructors: Charles Settens, Research Specialist 

Date: January 15-16, 2026
Agenda:
Thursday, January 15 
10:00 am - 12:00 pm | 12-0168 | Strategies Lecture
1:00 - 4:00 pm |13-4027 | Demonstration/Training

Friday, January 16
10:00 am - 12:00 pm | 13-4041 | Data Analysis 

Advanced signup required. Register by Monday, January 13, 2026. 
Open to MIT Community. Limited to 40 participants.

Strategies for X-ray Structural Analysis introduces diffraction techniques used to elucidate structural properties in powder, bulk polycrystalline, textured and epitaxial thin film materials. The course teaches how to plan experiments for X-ray powder diffraction, grazing-incidence and in-plane XRD for thin-film and surface-sensitive measurements. Students learn to how to interpret high-resolution XRD data, including reciprocal space maps, to characterize lattice strain, defects, and epitaxial quality.