On the polarization factor for crystal-monochromated X-radiation. I. Assessment of errors

The relation between the parameter c describing the degree of perfection of a crystal monochromator and the polarization ratio K is established. The influence of the incorrect assumption that a monochromator is always ideally mosaic on the polarization factor is discussed in terms of the systematic errors that may be introduced into X-ray data from the neglect to consider it as otherwise. Emphasis is given to a comparison of the errors for the two most common spectrometer geometries which provides some illuminating results.