Distribution Function Analysis of Crystalline and Low-Dimensional Materials
- 1National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, 305-0044
Abstract
Atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis from X-ray total scattering is a powerful methodology for determining atomic structure and arrangements across crystalline, disordered, nanostructured, and low-dimensional materials on both laboratory and synchrotron instruments. Fundamentally, PDF analysis relies on two core pillars—PDF data reduction from one-dimensional (1D) total scattering profiles and real-space structural modeling—often accompanied in rapid-acquisition experiments by upstream two-dimensional (2D) detector image processing. However, conventional workflows remain fragmented across disconnected software tools, forcing researchers to manually combine multiple programs and preventing the simultaneous optimization of measurement reduction parameters and crystal structure parameters that is standard in X-ray Rietveld refinement. Furthermore, mainstream PDF modeling engines rely on legacy physical approximations: they enforce three-dimensional (3D) periodic boundary conditions (requiring artificial vacuum supercells for 2D nanosheets), treat atomic scattering factors as angle-independent constants (causing peak distortions in compounds with large atomic number contrast), and approximate number density baselines using macroscopic bulk volume assumptions. Here, the open-source, pure-Python architecture of Orochi (version 4.0) is presented, implementing physical calculations from scratch in Python (accelerated via Numba) to unify total scattering data reduction, symmetry-aware crystallographic modeling, and real-space PDF simulation alongside a dedicated high-Q 2D detector processing module within a self-contained Python environment. Originally developed for laboratory total scattering studies of pharmaceutical glasses and deployed as compiled executable (β-version) tools at SPring-8 beamlines, Orochi has been completely redesigned around an externalized parameter management core (orochi.base) in which parameters are stored in standardized Python dictionaries and accessed via hierarchical string addresses. By bringing parameters outside the calculation engines rather than locking them inside built-in optimizers, this architecture allows multiple module instances across data reduction and structural modeling to be optimized simultaneously by modern optimization algorithms, machine learning libraries, and autonomous AI agents. For structural simulation, intra-cell atomic pair vectors are decoupled from lattice translation vectors to natively support arbitrary periodic boundary conditions across 3D crystals, 2D nanosheets, 1D nanowires, and
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BibTeX
@misc{tominaka2026distribution,
title = {{Distribution Function Analysis of Crystalline and Low-Dimensional Materials}},
author = {Satoshi Tominaka},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010802/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010802/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Distribution Function Analysis of Crystalline and Low-Dimensional Materials
AU - Satoshi Tominaka
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010802/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010802/v1
AB - Atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis from X-ray total scattering is a powerful methodology for determining atomic structure and arrangements across crystalline, disordered, nanostructured, and low-dimensional materials on both laboratory and synchrotron instruments. Fundamentally, PDF analysis relies on two core pillars—PDF data reduction from one-dimensional (1D) total scattering profiles and real-space structural modeling—often accompanied in rapid-acquisition experiments by upstream two-dimensional (2D) detector image processing. However, conventional workflows remain fragmented across disconnected software tools, forcing researchers to manually combine multiple programs and preventing the simultaneous optimization of measurement reduction parameters and crystal structure parameters that is standard in X-ray Rietveld refinement. Furthermore, mainstream PDF modeling engines rely on legacy physical approximations: they enforce three-dimensional (3D) periodic boundary conditions (requiring artificial vacuum supercells for 2D nanosheets), treat atomic scattering factors as angle-independent constants (causing peak distortions in compounds with large atomic number contrast), and approximate number density baselines using macroscopic bulk volume assumptions. Here, the open-source, pure-Python architecture of Orochi (version 4.0) is presented, implementing physical calculations from scratch in Python (accelerated via Numba) to unify total scattering data reduction, symmetry-aware crystallographic modeling, and real-space PDF simulation alongside a dedicated high-Q 2D detector processing module within a self-contained Python environment. Originally developed for laboratory total scattering studies of pharmaceutical glasses and deployed as compiled executable (β-version) tools at SPring-8 beamlines, Orochi has been completely redesigned around an externalized parameter management core (orochi.base) in which parameters are stored in standardized Python dictionaries and accessed via hierarchical string addresses. By bringing parameters outside the calculation engines rather than locking them inside built-in optimizers, this architecture allows multiple module instances across data reduction and structural modeling to be optimized simultaneously by modern optimization algorithms, machine learning libraries, and autonomous AI agents. For structural simulation, intra-cell atomic pair vectors are decoupled from lattice translation vectors to natively support arbitrary periodic boundary conditions across 3D crystals, 2D nanosheets, 1D nanowires, and
ER -