Local and near surface structure from diffraction (Preface)

This special topic of Materials Science and Engineering A highlights novel applications of X-ray and neutron diffraction for the analysis of a range of materials, including conventional and nanostructured materials, thin films, bio-inspired materials, and superalloys. The development of ultra-brilliant synchrotron X-ray sources and recent advances in neutron diffraction provide important new opportunities for the analysis of local and near surface material structures at multiple length scales.