Reciprocal Space Analysis of Short Range Order Intensities by the Cluster Variation Method

A reciprocal space formulation of the Cluster Variation is used in order to extract effective pair interactions in alloys from experimental short-range order diffuse intensities. The method is applied to the analysis of the short range order contribution to the neutron diffuse scattering of a $Fe-19.5 {\%} Al$ single crystal. A detailed comparison with real space methods is carried out for three different levels of approximations. For the highest level of approximation used in this study, effective pair interactions up to fifth neighbors are obtained.