Understanding crystal growth in vacuum and beyond

For a detailed understanding of crystal growth, the atomic-scale structure of the growing interface must be known. While such knowledge is available in vacuum environments, this is not the case if the crystal grows from a solution, melt or solid. X-ray diffraction is one of the few techniques that can be applied for this purpose and it is starting to provide information on the structure of both sides of a growing interface. This means that structural details like relaxation and reconstruction on the crystal surface and ordering in the solution can be included in the theoretical description of crystal growth.