Introduction to the Rietveld method

Abstract In Chapter 2, Dr Rietveld has provided an account of the inception and early development of his method and of the growth of its acceptance from being initially ignored to the very widespread and vigorous use in many fields that it now enjoys. In this chapter, we provide a general introductory account of what the method is and how it works. First, why do we prefer to call this method the Rietveld method rather than ‘profile refinement’ or, better, whole-pattern-fitting structure refinement (PFSR)? The answer to the first part is that the principal goal is to refine crystal structures, not profiles. The things actually being refined are parameters in models for the structure and for other specimen and instrument effects on the diffraction pattern. The answer to the second part of the question has both a trivial part and an important part. The trivial part is that PFSR is a clumsy name.