The Extension of Pillar 3: The DEN Method

For my thesis work in the early 1980s, I already was working on several synthetic olivines, fayalite α-Fe₂SiO₄, tephroite α-Mn₂SiO₄ and cobalt orthosilicate α-Co₂SiO₄, mainly with the comparably new and exciting method of neutron diffractometry. In order to align and cut the kindly provided single crystal specimen from Dr. Hosoya, Japan, and his group, I had to learn basic crystallography and X-ray diffractometry—not so easy for a just-finished physicist with diploma certificate whose ink had not yet dried.