In this study, X-ray diffraction and X-ray topography, using synchrotron radiation source, were used to analyse the nature of defects in a sapphire single crystal sample grown by Kyropoulos method. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were carried out on the results of the topography experiments. The dislocation density was found to be around 10(3)-10(4) dislocations/cm(2) indicating a crystal of good crystalline quality. Also, the variation of dislocation density with respect to the position on the sample was observed and discussed.