X-Ray Diffraction from a 28 Attoliter Crystal Volume

Metallic filaments with sub-micrometer diameters have recently been fabricated using novel materials fabrication techniques at NRL. The specimens are enshrouded in a glass sheath and all efforts to obtain structural information from these samples with conventional x-ray sources have been negative. By using synchrotron radiation on a wiggler beam line, x-ray diffraction data have been obtained from samples with diameters of 0.22, 0.09, 0.07, and 0.04 μm. The two thicker samples were found to be single crystals with a structure consistent with that of normal Bi. Single crystal diffraction peaks obtained from the 0.07 μm sample are incompatible with the Bi-1 or any other known structure of Bi. We have provisionally identified this as Bi-X.