We report here on the optical and structural characteristics carried out on strontium doped calcium tartrate tetrahedral single crystalline materials obtained by diffusing calcium and strontium ions through silica gel impregnated with optically active tartaric acid. Linear optical properties of this material such as refractive index, birefringence and transmission characteristics were measured in the wavelength range 200 nm <λ<1500 nm. No dispersion of the birefringence was observed within the experimental accuracy. The packing of tartrate molecules remained unaltered with 12% of the strontium doping.

X-ray line broadening is found to be an effective parameter to estimate the strain associated with rare earth ion (Gd³⁺)-doped polycrystalline bismuth vanadate(Bi₂VO_5·5). The strain increases with increasing Gd³⁺ concentration. It is anisotropic and found to be maximum in (111) plane. The Curie temperature which is known to decrease with increase in the rare earth ion concentration in these compounds is correlated with increase in strain.

Axially compressed Kevlar 49 fibres have been examined by X-ray diffraction methods. The most prominent effect of axial compression is the anisotropic deformation of the unit cell. Whereas thec-axial length, which corresponds to the chain axis, undergoes contraction, the basal plane dimensions manifest enlargement. The deformations increase with the extent of axial compression. The half-widths and the azimuthal spread of reflections also exhibit changes. The compression induced structural changes provide qualitative support to the experimentally observed reduction in tensile strength and modulus.