Hi Rich, "Mean-square radial disorder" (MSRD) is one good alternative. I'll also point out another bit of ambiguity with "Debye-Waller factor" aside from the confusion with the XRD term. Some EXAFS practitioners use Debye-Waller factor to indicate all disorder-type modifications to the EXAFS equation, including higher cumulants. Most use it only for the Gaussian part; i.e. the second cumulant. Another good reason to avoid the term. --Scott Calvin Sarah Lawrence College On Jul 16, 2008, at 4:41 PM, Richard Mayes wrote:
I also dislike the phrase "Debye-Waller factor" for the exafs disorder term. In crystallography, the Debye-Waller factor refers to disorder of atoms about their lattice positions. In exafs, the disorder is about the path length of the N-body configuration -- clearly not the same thing. I am, apparently, in the minority on this topic -- "Debye-Waller factor" is in wide use in the exafs literature. But, as everyone here knows, I often like to stand up on my soapbox and yell into the crowd. ;-)
Bruce,
While you're on your soapbox, if we drop "Debye-Waller factor" to describe the EXAFS disorder term, would you suggest using only "disorder" or do you have a better phrase to use?
Rich