How is x-ray diffraction like electron diffraction?
The theoretical treatment of x-ray and electron (or other particle) diffraction is almost exactly identical. In each case, waves reflect from crystal planes and interfere, although in the x-ray case, the wavelength is the electromagnetic wavelength, and in the matter case, the wavelength is the de Broglie one. The same Bragg condition applies, and the diffraction patterns look pretty much the same. Experimentally, however, throwing high energy electrons at a crystal is different from irradiating it with x-rays: electrons tend to interact with matter differently; they scatter more and require high vacuum and different kinds of apparatus.
