[sdpd] Determining magnetic structures

[Armel Le Bail <armel...@fluo.univ-lemans.fr>]

Hi,

A student having successfully completed the SDPD Internet
Course suggests that determining magnetic structures should be
added to the course program.

This is a quite different topic than to determine atomic positions
and this is not my specialty, so I will probably not do it (moreover,
a considerable number of sessions would have to be added to
the current 10 parts of the course). Anyway, some progress
are evident in that specialty : Juan Rodriguez Carvajal has
shown at EPDIC-7 how the new FULLPROF 2000 will be
able to determine a magnetic structure by Monte Carlo move
(rotations) of spins - if I have well understood. 

So, the conclusion is that there is may be a new Internet
course to create, which would explain how to determine
a magnetic structure by using modern tools... At least one
student is interested ;-). I am pretty sure that courses in
universities give the theoretical background, but that there
is not enough time for solving really completely complex
exercises, from the stucture hypothesis to the final Rietveld fit...
Not sure if 2 or 3-days workshop are enough too, if the time
is spend in long conferences (the same for SDPD : 3 days
workshop or 6-12 months interacting with teachers, what is
the more efficient and the less expensive ?? opinions
welcome).

Best,

Armel Le Bail
http://www.cristal.org/course/