Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2013
The effects of sample transparency in a powder diffraction experiment are discussed, and formulas including effects from horizontal divergence are derived. It is shown that the classical formula by Alexander [L. E. Alexander J. Appl. Phys. 21, 126 (1950)] is only a limiting case for zero horizontal divergence. It is also shown that in some cases extinction effects can play a role. The impact of these effects on both the line profile as well as the integrated intensity and experiments illustrating these phenomena, are discussed.