Digital processing of fibre diffraction patterns

A procedure is described for the digital processing of fibre diffraction patterns to yield a quasi-continuous map representing a central section through the cylindrically averaged intensity transform of the specimen. No assumptions are required about the nature of the specimen other than that it has fibre-type symmetry. The specimen intensity transform can be used to obtain integrated intensities for discrete reflections from microcrystalline fibres that are potentially as accurate as those obtained from crystals. Improved procedures for extracting structure amplitudes from specimens with continuous layer lines are also described.