<i>DXRD</i>: a user-friendly suite of two- and multiple-beam dynamical X-ray diffraction programs

The <i>DXRD</i> program suite consisting of a series of dynamical theory programs is introduced for computing dynamical X-ray diffraction from single crystals. Its interactive graphical user interfaces (GUIs) allow general users to make complicated calculations with minimal effort. It can calculate plane-wave Darwin curves of single crystals (or multiple crystals) for both the Bragg and Laue cases, including grazing-incidence diffraction and backward diffraction (with Bragg angles approaching 90°). It is also capable of simulating rocking curves for divergent incident X-ray beams with finite bandwidths. A unique feature of <i>DXRD</i> is that it provides a convenient GUI-based multiple-beam diffraction program that can accurately compute arbitrary <i>N</i>-beam diffraction of any geometry using a universal 4<i>N</i> × 4<i>N</i> matrix method. <i>DXRD</i> also provides a mapping program for plotting all the multiple-beam diffraction lines (monochromator glitches) in the azimuth-energy coordinate system. All these functions make <i>DXRD</i> a convenient and powerful software tool for designing crystal-based synchrotron/X-ray optics (monochromators, analyzers, polarizers, phase plates <i>etc.</i>) and for crystal characterization, X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction teaching.