Overview
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Jean-Pierre COTTON: Doctor of Science - Physicist at the Léon-Brillouin Laboratory (CEA-CNRS) - French Atomic Energy Commission (CE Saclay)
INTRODUCTION
The neutron is a neutral particle which, ignoring atoms' electronic patterns, interacts with their nuclei and magnetic moments. Neutron scattering is used to determine the static and dynamic structure of condensed matter, in much the same way as light and X-ray scattering and diffraction techniques. Measurement times are similar (from 10 min to 10 h). As neutron sources are difficult to access, this technique is reserved for experiments where it is indispensable, i.e., essentially :
to locate the position of hydrogen atoms in space and time, especially in systems containing heavy atoms;
when the contrast between the nuclei alone allows the experiment or when isotopic substitution is used as a labeling method;
to determine the space-time structure of magnetic moments in a sample;
to determine phonon or magnon dispersion curves;
when the opacity of the sample does not allow it to be studied by light scattering, or when the experiment requires a sample thickness too great to use X-ray diffraction.
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Neutron diffraction and spectrometry
Theoretical background
References
- (1) - FERMI (E.) - Nuclear Physics - (Physique Nucléaire). 246 p., 1949, University of Chicago Press. BROCKHOUSE (B.N.), STEWART (A.T.). − Scattering of neutrons by phonons in an aluminium single crystal (Diffusion de neutrons par des phonons dans un monocristal d'aluminium) Phys. Rev. 100, 1955, p. 756-757. WOLLAN (W.O.) et SHULL...
Neutron sources in Europe
The most comprehensive documentation on the world's neutron sources, their spectrometers and some of the topics covered can be found in the issues of "Neutron News" (Gordon and Breach Sc. Pub.), 1 er issue in 1990.
This list includes the names of the reactors, the laboratories responsible for operating neutron beams, and the research organizations...
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