Detailed Raman scattering investigation of LiKSO₄ in phases II and III across the transition temperatureT_c ≃ 700 K is reported. Abrupt change in frequency and line width of the external and internal modes have been observed. Analysis of the results suggests lithium positional disorder and sulphate orientational disorder in the high temperature phase (II). The results also throw some light on the existence of twin domains in the crystal.

The Pattison-Williams method of using Fourier-transformed Compton profiles for obtaining Fermi momenta in simple metals, is extended to set up a scheme for inferringd orf band occupancies in transition metals, rare earths etc. CP measurements are reported for Ni,α-Mn andβ-Mn and then the new scheme is applied to obtain 3d occupancies in these systems. Some comments on the use of this method for other systems are also made.

We show that the basic building blocks of a perfect Penrose pattern (PPT) in two dimensions can be established by adding another condition to the Penrose’s original edge rules. The implications of this result are discussed in the context of recent papers by Onada, Jaric, Ronchetti and others concerning growth algorithm for PPT’s.

A few facts related to the aberrations for toroidal and plane gratings are presented. Some design aspects of the plane grating-based monochromator devised by Petersen (1982) are discussed. We also point out that for a cylindrical grating astigmatic correction can be reduced and suggest that following Petersen’s scheme some improvements in the monochromator performance could be achieved with such a grating.

The layered manganite Nd_2−2xSr_1+2xMn₂O₇, with x varying between 0 and 0.5, has been synthesized using solid-state reaction method. We have found that Nd_2−2xSr_1+2xMn₂O₇ do not form the single-phase layered compound with A₃B₂O₇ structure. Instead, mixtures of various phases, such as, orthorhombic perovskite, i.e., Nd_1−zSr_zMnO₃, layered manganite and unreacted starting compounds, have been obtained. Except for x=0.4, which is found to be an antiferromagnetic insulator, all other x values yielded metal-insulator transition and ferromagnetic ordering.