For those like me who like to play at the boundary between structural and non-structural applications of X-ray diffraction, the Size Strain conference is one of the most awaited events. Olivier Thomas, chair of the sixth edition, wanted not only to keep the level of the conference to the maximum but also to impress. The venue was in fact the Club Belambra “Presqu'île de Giens” (Hyères), one of the vacation clubs of the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera), worldwide known touristic area and a clear attraction for the participants.
A team composed of Vanessa Coulet, Stéphanie Escoubas, Sophie Girardin, Stéphane Labat, Cathy Paitel and Olivier Thomas was in charge of the local organisation.
During the five days of the conference, 3 keynotes (by Eric Mittemeijer, Stuttgart, Germany; Paolo Scardi, Trento, Italy; and Ian Robinson, London, UK), 9 invited talks (Noyan, Devincre, Barabash, Keckes, Scholtes, Murray, Kaganer, Favre-Nicolin, Hytch), 36 orals and rich poster sessions, allowed the over 100 participants to present and discuss their results in a relaxed atmosphere.
The topics were mostly non-structural and included nanocrystalline materials, thin films and nanostructures, plastic deformation, line profile analysis (size, strain and faulting), materials microstructure, stress and strain, simulation and modelling, coupling between strain and composition, in situ mechanical testing and instrumentation. Some emphasis was given to applications of several of those techniques in microelectronics, especially for the analysis of local strains. Increased attention was also given to microbeam, coherent diffraction and imaging techniques, definitely an essential complement to traditional techniques for microstructure studies, especially in the range of 100 nm and above, hardly accessible to other methods.
Most of the participants also attended a hands-on workshop on line profile analysis (led by Andreas Leineweber, Stuttgart, Germany and by me), designed to give a practical introduction and some basic skills of microstructure analysis by X-ray powder diffraction.
I am pretty sure that most of us will also recollect the abundant meals, the omnipresent good wine and the social events. The excursion to Porquerolles Island was definitely worth the trip: a large fraction of people rented a bike and rode around the small island, looking for some nice place where to lie in the sun, or climbed the cliffs to see the spectacular panorama.
Ian Robinson and Alexander Korsunsky are already working at the next Size Strain, with the tough goal to beat this impeccable French edition. Therefore, for those interested in the topic, see you in 3 years in the UK!
