In order to provide our users the possibility to complete their neutron scattering data with real space images we will present the Electron Microscopy possibilities at MLZ consisting of a Cryogenic transmission electron microscope Cryo-TEM (JCNS) and an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope ESEM (JCNS & Hereon).
TEM yield real space images of soft matter systems, particularly in...
Many modern high performance alloys feature ferromagnetic elements like Co or Ni. With SANS being a principal technique to investigate the nanostructure of these compounds in in-situ conditions, the
ever present magnetic scattering can be of similar magnitude as the nuclear signal. Magnetic fields combined with high temperatures can hence be a key ingredient for studies of Co or Ni based...
Heterocyclic amines, such as piperidine and N-methylpiperidine aggregate in aqueous solutions due to hydrogen bonds between hydration water molecules. No such aggregation occurs in the mixtures of these amines with other hydrogen-bonded solvents, such as methanol or ethanol. This difference highlights the active role of water solvent in promoting the self-aggregation. However, the role of...
Amphiphilic diblock copolymers feature self-assembly behavior in aqueous solution. In particular, poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PMMA-b-PNIPAM) forms core-shell micelles upon heating above the cloud point of PNIPAM (Tcp) [1]. Previously, it was found that pressure strongly affects the dehydration extent of PNIPAM homopolymers in aqueous solution [2].
Here, we present...
The scientific case of the FREIA instrument at ESS is partly based on the measurement of reflectivity with very fast time-resolution. The novel elliptical guide design delivers up to 3 collimated beams onto the sample position and thereby enables the possibility of quickly changing the incidence angle without moving the sample. However, it remains technically challenging to achieve sequential...
The 3He group has developed in-situ polarizers for many JCNS instruments including MARIA, TOPAS, KWS1, POLI, and KWS2 and will provide another two polarizers for the ESS for DREAM and TREX. We develop all 3He cells and magnetic systems in house, as well as the laser sources for the FRM2-based devices. We have also work towards wide angle analysis with C-shaped analyzer cell. The status and...
Polarized neutron imaging (PNI) uses Larmor spin precession to spatially resolve bulk magnetic properties [1]. In recent years, it has been advanced with applications like visualizing magnetic domains [2] or vector-fields [3].
Grain oriented silicon steels, which are used as magnetic core material, have grains and magnetic domains in the mm to cm range and a preferential magnetization axis....
Following the successful guide upgrade at SINQ [1], PSI continues to improve the instrumentation to take advantage of the performance gain. The resulting boost in signal to noise enables faster data aquisition and allows more demanding experiments.
This could be experiments allowing for smaller samples sizes, at extreme conditions, with increased complexity or combinations of all three....
Antibodies play a crucial role in the immune response of mammals. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are particularly relevant for therapeutics due to their high specificity and versatility. The pharmaceutical challenge is to formulate highly concentrated mAb solutions to achieve a significant therapeutic effect, while keeping their viscosity below the subcutaneous injectability limit [1], thus...
Quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) allows to probe with a high energy resolution the total scattering function as a function of energy and momentum transfer $\hbar\omega$ and $q$, respectively. Classical QENS spectra are often captured with quasi-continuous energy transfers with acquisition times of several hours. Since the spectrometers are constantly upgraded, new measurement techniques...
The time-of-flight engineering diffractometer BEER [1], which is under construction at the European Spallation Source (ESS), will offer new opportunities for investigations of engineering materials and components using a multi-scale approach and under near-processing conditions.
BEER combines the high brilliance of the ESS source with large instrument flexibility. The diffractometer includes...
G-quadruplexes (G4s) formed by the human telomeric sequence AG3(TTAG3)3 (Tel22) play a key role in cancer and ageing. G4 structures are known to display a variety of topologies, which are determined by several factors, resulting in structural polymorphism. Neutron Scattering techniques are a valuable tool to investigate how G4 structural polymorphism and ligand binding affect their...
The annual global cost of friction and wear is estimated to be €2.5 trillion and represents a significant energy loss. Organic friction modifiers (OFMs) are amphiphilic surfactants utilised to minimise engine losses with the aim of enhancing vehicle fuel economy. Conventionally, OFMs are thought to adsorb at metallic surfaces forming compact monolayer surface films. These reduce friction by...
Ni/Ti is the material system of choice for non-polarizing reflective multilayer neutron optics such as monochromators, wave guides, and focusing devices. The reflected intensity as well as neutron energy range from state-of-the-art multilayers are hampered by an interface width limiting the optical contrast. Our previous work has shown that incorporation of low-neutron-absorbing 11B4C gives...
It is known [1] that optimized low-dimensional liquid para-H2 moderators can deliver 2-3 times higher cold neutron brightness compared to volumetric para-H2 moderators.
We present a new analytic approach to calculate the brightness of liquid para-H2 moderators. It is shown that the brightness gain is the near-the-surface effect, so that narrow cold moderators shaped as elongated...
Incorporation of organic molecules into the lattice of inorganic crystalline hosts is a common phenomenon in biomineralization and is shown to alter various properties of the crystalline host. Recently, we manipulated magnetism in MnCO$_3$ by admitting a specific single amino acid into its lattice matrix. Bulk measurements showed a clear negative (positive) correlation between amount of...
10B-based solid-state neutron detectors are a viable replacement to 3He detectors. Neutron irradiation of 10B produce charged detectable ions of 4He and 7Li. The detector efficiency using a planar thin film neutron converter configuration is limited by self-absorption of the conversion products in the layer. A 3D configuration, which allows for the conversion products to exit the converter,...
A dedicated test beamline (TBL) is being built to provision the commissioning of the ESS spallation source. The functionality of the beamline employs “camera obscura” principle, which allows to observe both thermal and cold neutrons emitted from different parts of the so-called butterfly moderator. The layout of TBL simply consists of a tapered collimator and a changeable pinhole with...
We present recent developments in the field of innovative neutron optics using perfect Silicon single crystals.
A multiplexed array prototype analyzer has been constructed for the cold neutron triple axis spectrometer ThALES. The prototype consists in an array of 17 Si stacks of 2 mm of thickness. Each stack is composed of 2 plastically bent Si(111) blades with a bending radius of 2 m. The...
The study of condensed matter is often achieved by perturbing the system thus creating a resultant change in material properties that provides an insight into the atomic scale interactions. One such perturbation is pressure. Pressure offers a convenient way to perturb quantum spin liquids and tune quantum phase transitions by altering the atomic positions and thereby the dipolar interactions...
One of the most promising use cases of magnetic hyperthermia, is the use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for cancer therapy. In this treatment, MNPs are immersed into tumours and by heating with external magnetic fields, typically 100-900 kHz, destroy cancer cells. Since it is a clinical application the optimization of field parameters and in turn, the heating power, is crucial to maintain...
The superADAM reflectometer at the ILL has been recently upgraded with a low takeoff angle extension. The new extension represent a stand alone simplified two axis diffractometer operating at 3.2Å. It is designed with speed in mind and provides faster measurement at higher Q-vectors which would not normally be accessible at a longer wavelength. The basic overview of the instruments...
High-performance instrumentation projects rely on high-performance neutron guide infrastructure. During the extended reactor outage (2021 – 2023) we have replaced the H1-H2 beam-tube, in-pile optics and three new guides with innovative geometries to provide intense neutron beams to new or upgraded instrumentation.
The upgraded IN5 (2019) time-of-flight spectrometer and its new elliptically...
Dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) show rich phase behaviour at different temperature and concentration [1]. We have studied the effects of Non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin (Asp) and indomethacin (Indo), on the phase behaviour and the dynamics of DODAB lipid bilayer using quasielastic neutron scattering techniques (QENS). Elastic window scan showed that Asp and Indo...
We report on a library of models for Quasi Elastic Neutron Scattering (QENS) data. This development, initiated by SINE2020 Workpackage 10 on Data Treatment, was to develop an exhaustive library of dynamical models in order to increase interoperability and modularity for rapid prototyping. Different building blocks are provided to users and can be combined, convoluted and plugged into different...
The influence of the basal texture of the hot-rolled sheet of the AZ31 magnesium alloy on the activity of individual deformation mechanisms and its implication on the mechanical response of the material was studied using a combination of advanced in-situ experimental techniques. Neutron diffraction coupled with acoustic emission (AE) was employed to monitor the twinning activity and the...
Aluminum-alumina composites with interpenetrating network structure are interesting structural materials due to their high resistance to elevated temperature and frictional wear, good heat conductivity, enhanced mechanical strength and fracture toughness. In this paper aluminum-alumina bulk composites and FGMs are manufactured by pressure infiltration of porous alumina preforms with molten...
The cold neutron diffractometer DMC at SINQ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, has recently undergone a major upgrade, and I will present the highlights. The cold neutron guide is upgraded, and DMC is now equipped with a large 2D neutron detector. Special features are high detection efficiency, large solid angle coverage and two-dimensional readout. For powder diffraction experiments we...
In La-based cuprates the low superconducting transition temperature is accompanied with having only a partial gaping of the magnetic excitation spectrum [1]. This allows the magnetic excitations of La-based cuprates to be studied to lower energies than in other cuprate materials [1], and are often compared to those of charge-stripe ordered La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$NiO$_{4+\delta}$ [2,3].
Inelastic...
The application of HOPG (highly oriented pyrolytic graphite) as an efficient monochromator and filter material for neutron instrumentation has been discovered more than 50 years ago. Despite the fact that HOPG has been in use for such a long time, there is still room for improvements regarding its implementation in neutron beam optics. The features of a novel concept called POSI...
The use of neutron scattering techniques to understand characteristics of materials at the nanoscale has matured to a point where the subtlest of reciprocal space features can be quantified. In contrast, radiographic imaging using thermal and cold neutrons is entering adolescence, garnering substantial interest by science communities external to traditional scattering disciplines and receiving...
The epsilon phase of Fe$_2$O$_3$ (ε-Fe$_2$O$_3$) presents captivating properties and it is receiving extraordinary attention due to its great application potentials. It stands out for its huge coercive field (up to 2 T at room temperature), millimeter-wave ferromagnetic resonance, remarkable non-linear magneto-optical effect, magneto-electric coupling [1], and room temperature ferroelectricity...
LaCoO$_3$ exhibits two crossovers at T$_{SS} \approx$ 100 K and T$_{MI} \approx$ 500 K observed in various physical properties such as thermal expansion and electric susceptibility. These crossovers are typically associated with the temperature dependent population of excited spin states of the Co$^{3+}$ ion, which evolves upon heating from the low-spin (LS), S = 0, to high-spin (HS), S = 2,...
Spin waves in chiral magnetic materials are strongly influenced by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, resulting in intriguing phenomena like nonreciprocal magnon propagation and magnetochiral dichroism. We studied the nonreciprocal magnon spectrum of the archetypical chiral magnet MnSi and its evolution as a function of magnetic field in all magnetic phases. Using inelastic neutron...
High-temperature superconducting split pair magnet for neutron scattering environment with the metal-as-insulation (MI) winding technique enables mechanical strength with quench risk reduction. Quench protection is crucial for superconducting magnet system's reliable and safe operation. High-temperature superconductors enable a rapid rise to the maximum magnetic field, compressed dimensions,...
In the last two years the neutron optics group of FRM II has successfully sputtered non-depolarizing m=2 Cu/Ti supermirrors, which have been prepared with a standard DC magnetron sputtering facility. Control on the roughness grow and interdiffusion allowed us to get a very good maximum angle of total reflection (ca. 0.21°/λ) and polarized neutron reflectivity above 90%, as measured at the...
The current unsustainable meat consumption makes a growing number of meat consumers turn to plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs). To facilitate the transition towards a plant-based diet with its health and environmental benefits, the demand for an accurate reproduction of meat-like structure, texture and mouthfeel in PBMAs is pressing. High Moisture Extrusion Cooking (HMEC) is one of the...
ESS/ISIS Support Laboratories – how we best support the neutron scattering users through collaboration
K. Michel, M. Sharp, H. Schneider, M. Hartl
G. Stenning, S. Langham, S. Youngs, M. Jura
Facility Staff involved in supporting neutron scattering users in laboratories during their beamtime need possibilities for scientific and technical exchange, as well as personnel development...
The thermal beamport SR8 at the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in Garching will be optimized to allow the simultaneous operation of three independent monochromatic powder diffractometers. SPODI will continue to be one of the world-leading high-resolution powder diffractometers. FIREPOD will be a dedicated high throughput instrument, well suited for a broad range of fast...
We present the developments and improvements of the SANS-1 instrument, a joint TUM and Hereon project [1] since the first user experiments in 2012. The classical pinhole SANS-1 features now two velocity selectors and an ultra-fast TISANE chopper, efficiently allowing to tune flux, resolution, duty cycle and frame overlap, including time resolved measurements with repetition rates up to 10 kHz....
In 2027, ESS will welcome its first users. To be able to support their experiments, the Materials and Physics Support group has already started to procure and integrate an ambitious list of sample environment systems (SES), from the simplest wet cryostat to the most advanced magnet. In our scope, SES for low and high temperatures, magnetic and electrical fields, high-pressure and...
The UK in-kind contribution to the first 15 instruments at ESS includes small-angle neutron scattering and reflectometry instruments.
As one of two SANS beamlines under construction, LoKI has been designed specifically with the needs of the soft matter, materials, and bio-science communities in mind. For example, its high flux and wide simultaneous Q-range will make it ideal for performing...
In the crystal structure of KDP (КH2PO4) the phosphate tetrahedra are linked together by a net of O-H-O hydrogen bonds. At ambient pressure and temperature protons are disordered in a two-minimum potential along the bonds. At a temperature of 123 K a ferroelectric phase transition takes place related to the locking of protons in one of these two energy minima. We used inelastic neutron...
SKADI [1] is a small-angle neutron scattering instrument being constructed at the European Spallation Source (ESS). This TOF instrument with 20 m collimation and 20 m sample detector distance will cover 3 orders of magnitude in Q-space simulateneously (10$^{-3}$ to 1 Å$^{-1}$), offer polarised scattering, as well as a versatile sample area of 3$\times$3 m $^2$. With a flux of approximately...
We present a MIEZE (Modulation of intensity with zero effort) set-up for high-resolution neutron spectroscopy at momentum transfers up to 3Å$^{-1}$, energy transfers up to ~20meV and an energy resolution in the μeV-range using both thermal and cold neutrons. One prominent advantage of MIEZE compared to classical neutron spin-echo is the possibility to investigate spin-depolarizing samples or...
The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) diffractometer KWS-2 at the neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (MLZ, Garching, Germany) is operated by the Jülich center of neutron science (JCNS), with applications focusing on soft matter, colloidal particles, micelles, nanocomposites, and polymer gels. In recent years, we are working on the establishment of a new sample environment – the in-situ...
Mucins and mucin-like molecules[1] are an important group of biomacromolecules characterized by a charged and highly glycosylated linked peptide backbone. The fundamental structural unit is a bottle-brush-like morphology organized into higher level aggregates or networks forming a gel which is resistant to flow. The electrostatic interactions between polymer chains are of interest to...
The high-intensity reflectometer MARIA of JCNS is installed in the neutron guide hall of the FRM-II reactor, and is using a velocity selector (4.5Å<λ<40Å) with a resolution of 10%. By using Fermi-Chopper the wavelength resolution can be increased to 1% or 3%. The beam is polarized by a double-reflecting super mirror (4.5Å<λ<12Å) and in the vertical direction the elliptically focusing neutron...
The hexagonal close packed phase of cobalt (hcp-Co) is associated with numerous stacking faults while the face centered cubic phase of cobalt (fcc-Co) has considerably less stacking faults, as shown e.g. in [1]. Two domains of hcp-Co stacked one above the other with a stacking fault in between are usually delimited by a small interface region of a few fcc-Co layers as shown e.g. in [2,3]. The...
Binary Cu-Ti alloys feature a large, undercooled liquid region and a high glass-forming ability (GFA). Thus, they provide the rare possibility to obtain two component bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), which is mainly addressed to special properties of the Cu-Ti system i.e., in the melt, it features a positive excess volume, whereas it still has a negative enthalpy of mixing.
Although, the...
Pyrolytic graphite (PG) has a high Bragg reflectivity for neutrons and is therefore much used for monochromators and analyzers in all types of backscattering and triple-axis spectrometers (TAS).
PG can also be the source of background signals since it has low velocity phonon branches. If interpreted as Bragg scattering, these phonon branches will appear as broad spurious background signals....
Temperature-induced spin reorientation in orthoferrites (RFeO$_3$) and orthochromites (RCrO$_3$) has recently attracted a lot of attention because of its various potential applications. Spin reorientation in these oxides can be utilized to design functional devices like magnetic switches, magnetic read/write heads, etc.
This work presents the results of spin reorientation and rare-earth...
Hydrogen storage technologies in low weight hydrides promise an aid with the global aim of CO2-emissions reduction. High mass energy densities are needed e.g. for heavy-load long distance mobility like trains, trucks, and airplanes. One of the potential reaction based systems is Mg(NH2)2+LiH with a reversible hydrogen capacity of 5.6 wt.% below 200oC. The kinetics of hydrogen...
We present a newly developed program that combines molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with an optimisation protocol. e.g. using Monte Carlo (MC) methods, in order to determine the force field parameters values that lead to the best agreement with experimental data. The program is currently focussed on classical MD simulations and quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) data, such as dynamic...
The PERC facility is currently under construction at the FRM II in Garching, Germany. It will serve as an intense and clean source of electrons and protons from neutron beta decay for precision studies. It aims to improve the measurements of the properties of weak interaction by one order of magnitude and to search for new physics via new effective couplings.
PERC's central component is a 12...
Polarised neutrons will be a capability offered to users in many ESS instruments. Of the currently approved 15 instruments [1], 12 aim to have the capability [2]. They include 1 imaging instrument, 2 SANS instruments, 2 reflectometers, 3 diffractometers, and 4 spectrometers. In conjunction with in-kind contributions and external grants, the ESS Polarisation Project will support 10 instruments....
Unsaturated molecular crystal can polymerize into extended carbon structure like diamond nanothread and graphene nanoribbon under external pressure, which is called pressure-induced polymerization (PIP). PIP has an obvious topochemical feature, with the structure of the polymeric product similar with the reactant. By analyzing the crystal structures of many reactants, we conclude that alkynes...
The European Spallation Source (ESS), expected to be the world’s most powerful neutron source, is currently under construction in Lund. Among the endorsed instruments foreseen for day one instrumentation at ESS, is the cold time-of-flight spectrometer CSPEC [1]. CSPEC is a joint proposal from the Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany, and the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (LLB), Saclay,...
Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a genetically inheritable neurodegenerative disorder caused by a mutation in the gene encoding the protein Huntingtin (Htt). The mutation causes an increase in CAG trinucleotides in the first exon, which increases the number of glutamines in the poly-glutamine (Poly-Q) tract of the intrinsically disordered N-terminal region of the protein. HD symptoms only manifest...
The mineral jarosite KFe3(OH)6(SO4)2 is a frustrated antiferromagnet. It exhibits long range magnetic order (LRO), when cooled below TN = 60 K, due to DM interaction. The mineral is a classic example of a 2D geometric frustration Kagome lattice. It has earlier been discovered that a substitution of H3O or D3O for K on the A-site prevents LRO. Instead, a spin glass transition sets in at Tg =...
Single-Chain NanoParticles (SCNPs) are nano-objects obtained by intra-molecular cross-linking of individual macromolecular chains (‘precursors’). Due to their ultra-small size, softness and internal compartmentalization, they are good candidates for nanotechnology, e.g., for SCNPs was to form part of all-polymer nanocomposites (NC), i. e., mixtures where such nanoparticles are dispersed in a...
Hydrogels are at the forefront of scientific attention especially in the biological and biomedical fields providing the basis for stimuli-responsive artificial tissues etc. We study physically crosslinked hydrogels based on ionenes, positively charged polymer chains, for which strong counterion-specific effects have been observed previously [1]. The nature of the ionene counterion modifies...
The D16 instrument is a versatile cold-neutron diffractometer operating at the ILL. It benefited from a number of upgrades over the years, such as the installation of a large-area 3He Multi-Wires Proportional Chamber (MWPC) in 2014. This detector provides a resolution of 1 x 1 mm2 over an area of 32 x 32 cm2. After 8 years of operation, the detector is now being replaced by a new curved...
We report on the results of inelastic neutron scattering (INS) of KCu$_4$P$_3$O$_{12}$. Cu$^{2+}$ ions carry $S = 1/2$ spins. Four types of nearest-neighbor exchange interactions form the eight-spin zigzag-chain ($J_1 - J_2 - J_3 - J_4 - J_3 - J_2 - J_1$ chain). We evaluated the exchange interactions as $J_1 = -8.5$ meV (antiferromagnetic), $J_2 = -2.7$ meV, $J_3 = -3.9$ meV, and $J_4 = 6.2$...
Grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering (GISANS) has the potential to reveal highly relevant scientific questions in many areas of science. Examples include biomembranes, responsiveness of lipid membranes to external stimuli in situ such as exposure to light for photolipids and hydration, in-plane structure of DNA composites and micellar nanoreactors. These experiments are often...
The HEiDi single crystal diffractometer at the hot source of the MLZ's FRM II offers high thermal and hot flow, high resolution and a large Q range. These properties make it an excellent tool to obtain detailed structural information for a wide range of current scientific topics.
Within the framework of two recent projects funded by the BMBF, great efforts have been made to expand the...
The antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) plays a decisive role for the stabilization and control of chirality of skyrmion textures in various magnetic systems exhibiting a noncentrosymmetric crystal structure. A less studied aspect of the DMI is that this interaction is believed to be operative in the vicinity of lattice imperfections in crystalline magnetic materials, due to...
The heteroaggregation between azo dyes and surfactants is an interesting phenomenon. The responsivity of the dye spectrum to changes in their chemical environment is often used to monitor alterations in a solution state by means of UV/vis-spectroscopy. However, little attention was paid to the morphology of dye/surfactant assemblies. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) with contrast...
To investigate superalloys under application conditions, which are often a combination of very high tensile loads, and temperatures in oxidizing environments, a new testing machine has been developed for use at several neutron instruments at the FRM II. The testing machine is designed to investigate the material behavior up to 100 kN. Different specimen grips were developed to perform tensile,...
Propagation-based phase contrast imaging is an established method in X-ray imaging. Recent results show that this approach with a Paganin type filter [1],[2] increases neutron image contrast significantly. We demonstrate that we can use this to distinguish materials with low neutron absorption. The neutron experiments were performed at BOA (SINQ@PSI [3]) using the neutron microscope [4]. These...
CAMEA (Continuous Angle Multiple Energy Analysis) is a novel crystal analyzer concept optimized for neutron detection efficiency in the horizontal scattering plane [1]. The design comprises consecutive, upward scattering analyzer arcs set to analyze different neutron energies and an array of position sensitive detectors. CAMEA enables rapid mapping of excitations and is in particular...
Modern neutron Multi-Wire-Proportional-Chambers (MWPC) operating with $^{10}$B$_{4}$C films as solid-state-converter can surpass the performance of ones based on $^{3}$He in terms of position resolution and count rate capability at similar detection efficiency [1,2]. The use of large area coated converters on thin foils forces to develop a mechanical concept to avoid deformations of the...
Powder Bed Fusion, especially Selective Laser Melting (SLM), has gained high acclaim among material engineers in the recent years since it brings a new possibility of production of engineering components with complex shapes. Additionally, by further rotary swaging, the mechanical properties of the components can be enhanced alongside the reduction of some characteristic defects of the SLM...
The NMX Macromolecular Diffractometer is optimised for small samples and large unit cells dedicated to the structure determination of biological macromolecules by crystallography. Neutron macromolecular crystallography is mainly driven by its ability to locate hydrogen atoms in biological macromolecules. NMX is a macromolecular diffractometer that uses the time-of-flight (TOF) quasi-Laue...
We present the rare existence of d5 off-centering induced weak ferroelectric polarization and demonstrate its correlation with observed magnetoelectric (ME) properties in the G type (TN~210 K) antiferromagnet Fe2TeO6 compound.
PUMA is the thermal neutron three-axes spectrometer (TAS) at MLZ. Owing to the dynamical double-focusing technique and compact neutron optics with wide beam divergence, PUMA is mainly characterized as one of the highest neutron flux TAS. In addition, PUMA is equipped with the early generation multi-analyzer and -detector setup, which is suitable for a type of time-dependent kinetic...
The biological functionality and structure of DNA and RNA,[1] as well as the activity of various nucleoside-processing enzymes,[2] are all deeply linked to the properties of the underlying five-membered ring sugars, particularly furanosides. The study of five-membered rings is more challenging because of the strain of the ring in all conformations which leads to a small energy difference...
Physical properties of nanoclusters, nanostructures and self-assembled nanodots, which in turn are concomitantly dependent upon the morphological properties, can be modulated for functional purposes. Here, in this article, magnetic nanodots of Fe on semiconductor TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) are investigated with time-of-flight grazing incidence small-angle neutron scattering (TOF-GISANS) as a...
Oxygen ion conductors are materials of major interest for a series of application in the area of solid state ionics. In particular, oxides with brownmillerite type structure (A2BB’O5) have attracted much attention, showing oxygen ion mobility down to ambient temperature.
Brownmillerite type frameworks containing B-cations with saturated or empty electron shells (d0 or d10 configurations)...
MIRACLES is the neutron backscattering spectrometer of the European Spallation Source [1]. The instrument will display a flexible tuning of the energy resolution, that allows exploration of a broad range of timescales, from the nanosecond to the picosecond, along with an unprecedented wide dynamic range and a versatile selection of energies for quasielastic and inelastic scattering experiments...
Proton-conducting oxides are an important class of materials for next-generation, intermediate-temperature solid-state electrolytes in e.g., proton conducting fuel cells. While most development efforts have been directed toward materials exhibiting the cubic perovskite structure, in recent years several promising alternative structures have emerged. One of these is the pseudo-cubic structure...
Stimuli responsive materials, which can self-assemble depending on the environment, are of great interest. In this context nanoparticles offer unique opportunities as they can be custom designed and it is very important to understand the assembly mechanisms to control the resulting structures, which is crucial for the synthesis of materials with controllable properties. It is well known, that...
The monochromatic neutron filed generated by $^{3}$H($^{2}$H,n)$^{4}$He reactions is typically used in fusion-related experiments. mainly devoted to material damaging, plasma diagnostics development and cross sections measruements. As a matter of fact, the monochromatic 14 MeV neutrons can be slowed down to obtain thermalised neutrons with the typical spectrum of a spallation neutron source,...
Thermal density fluctuations of supercritical CO$_{2}$ have been studied using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), whose amplitude (susceptibility) and correlation length show the expected maximum at the Widom line. At low pressure, the susceptibility is in excellent agreement with the values determined from the mass density. Surprisingly, droplets form between 20 and 60 bar above the Widom...
In many applications like in biomedicine, ferrofluids, or heterogeneous catalysis, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) feature a solid-liquid interface with the wetting water molecules. The interfacial properties including dynamics play an important role, yet have been barely addressed so far. Quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) can access the dynamics of water molecules at the surface of...
First discovered in 1992, RAlGe (R –rare earth metal) was reported initially to crystallize in the so-called ThSi2 structure-type with a centrosymmetric space group I41/amd (No. 141) [1]. Later on, it has been realized instead that RAlGe crystallizes in the LaPtSi-type structure [2,3] with a body-centered space group I41md (No. 109). From recent first principle theoretical calculations, it has...
JCNS at MLZ offers the opportunity for thin film fabrication in combination with neutron investigation proposals utilizing a Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) setup on site.
The design of the MBE setup will be presented revealing its versatility with respect to the fabrication of different material compositions of thin films like “classical” magnetic thin films, transition metal oxide...
KWS-2 is a classical small angle neutron diffractometer where the pinhole mode with different neutron-wavelengths and detector distances can be combined with focusing mode with MgF$_2$ lenses to reach a wide Q-range between 2x10$^{-4}$ and 1.0 Å$^{-1}$. Upgrades of the detection system and sample environment are currently in progress. A wide-angle detection option is currently being tested and...
Stimuli responsive polymers have gained much attention due to their unique properties. If polymer thin films exhibit a reversible volume change upon exposure to external stimuli such as temperature, pH, or solvents, they become promising candidates for applications such as nanoswitches or sensors. Polymers like poly(N-isopropyl methacrylamide) (PNIPMAM), which are sensitive to two stimuli can...
VITESS [1] is a Monte Carlo based simulation package for neutron ray-tracing now hosted by the Forschungszentrum Jülich. We show the VITESS simulation results of the KWS-I Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) instrument at the FRM-II research reactor and compare them with experimental measurements. With the instrument correctly simulated, it is possible to generate a synthetic database of...
The search for renewable and sustainable electrical energy storage devices has become vital to meet current environmental challenges [1]. Iron oxides represent a promising,environmentally friendly material [2,3] which can be converted into a lithium intercalating material via chemical lithiation [4]. Owing to their high surface area and thus potential high electrochemical surface activity,...
$SrTiO_3$ is an incipient ferroelectric material with a large static dielectric response, which shows notable phonon anomalies and electrostrictive response (PRB 62, 13942). It is also a neutron triple-axis classic, with seminal work by Cowley, Shirane in which they show the application of available phonon theories and sixties neutron scattering methods.
First principles calculations of...
Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) are technologically relevant for catalysis, high density magnetic data storage, ferrofluids and medical applications. A drastically reduced magnetization compared to the bulk material is commonly attributed to spin disorder in magnetic NPs. Such spin disorder has recently been suggested to be beneficial for magnetic heating, e.g. in intracellular magnetic...
Almost a century ago, in 1931, Bethe provided an ansatz to find the exact eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg Hamiltonian with antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions. In zero field, the ground state is a singlet, and the inelastic neutron spectrum is a continuum of pairs of topological excitations called spinons. In an applied magnetic field, longitudinal and...
The European Spallation Source, currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, will originally make available a suite of 15 state-of-the-art neutron scattering instruments, which will be served by a high-brightness moderator placed above the spallation target. The current infrastructure of ESS, however, allows for a second, alternative moderator to be constructed and positioned below the...
Diffraction is a key tool for structure analysis. However, currently available software for modelling and analysis of diffraction data may be, on the one hand, difficult for new users looking to apply diffraction to their field of expertise and, on the other hand, not flexible enough for domain experts.
EasyDiffraction [1] aims to lower the barrier of entry to diffraction data analysis by...
The cold neutron three-axis spectrometer IN12 is operated by the Juelich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) in collaboration with the CEA-Grenoble as a CRG-B instrument at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France.
With an upgrade accomplished in 2012 the instrument has been relocated to an end position of a new guide and the whole primary spectrometer has been upgraded.
With a...
MLZ successfully operates the two neutron imaging beam lines NECTAR and ANTARES. NECTAR provides fast fission neutrons, thermal neutrons and gammas, which can be combined for multi-modal characterization of larger samples with spatial resolution down to ~100 µm. ANTARES offers a spectrum with a thermal maximum, extended towards cold neutrons, providing higher sensitivity and spatial...
Attenuation-based radiography and tomography (CT) are well-established experimental techniques for non-destructive visualisation of the object interior, where X-/gamma-rays and neutrons are most commonly used types of the incident radiation, but also protons or heavy particles (e.g. ions) can be used as a source. Different radiation sources are used along with phase-contrast, Bragg and/or...
It is well known that beyond a certain size magnetic nanoparticles exhibit a nonuniform internal spin structure. This feature, which is of relevance for many problems of practical interest (e.g., biomedical imaging and drug delivery), is commonly ignored when it comes to the analysis of magnetic neutron scattering data on nanoparticle ensembles. By means of numerical micromagnetic computations...
The cold triple-axis spectrometer (TAS) FLEXX at HZB is a well-designed and upgraded instrument [1-4]. There is a strong wish that this excellent instrument should be preserved for the community after the shutdown of the HZB neutron source. One attractive gap in the present instrumentation suite of MLZ, is the Larmor-diffraction technique [5-6] (LD) and, as a natural extension, cold neutron...
Myelin basic protein (MBP) is intrinsically disordered in solution and is considered as a conformationally flexible biomacromolecule. Here, we present a study on perturbation of MBP structure and dynamics by the denaturant guanidinium chloride (GndCl) using small-angle scattering and neutron spin–echo spectroscopy (NSE). A concentration of 0.2 M GndCl causes charge screening in MBP resulting...
We present neutron scattering data on the hexagonal rare-earth diboride ErB$_2$. ErB$_2$ orders magnetically below $T_c$ = 14 K, where the magnetocrystalline anisotropy exhibits strong easy-plane characteristics, as established from measurements of the specific heat, ac susceptibility, magnetisation, and electrical transport. In order to investigate the magnetic structure we performed neutron...
The magnetoelastic coupling between phonons and f-electron transitions in crystal electric field (CEF) has been of interest for long time already but still lacks a systematic understanding. It was first recognized in 1980s in CeAl2 that showed an unexpected excitation spectrum. It was explained by a qualitative theory developed by Thalmaier and Fulde [2] but limited to this case. Such...
Elemental analysis based on neutron activation provides a number of advantages for the study of ancient objects. It is non-destructive, the sample preparation is simple, and most elements can be analyzed with low detection limits. The most commonly used methods are prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), which enable a panoramic bulk...
Mushroom is a concept of an indirect neutron spectrometer with a secondary spectrometer based on a super flat-cone analyser made of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite with an array of position-sensitive detectors (PSD) below it. This combination of the analyser and PSD gives the complete information of the outgoing wave vectors from each detected point on the PSDs. The idea has been first...
Mn2GaC (space group P63/mmc) is a laminated material consisting of Mn2C layers interleaved with Ga layers. The competition between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions within the Mn2C planes gives rise to complex magnetic behaviors. It orders magnetically below TN = 507 K and shows another magnetic transition at TC = 220 K. We employed neutron diffraction to study the nature of the...
The family of materials (Mn(Sb,Bi)$_2$Te$_4$)((Sb,Bi)$_2$Te$_3$)$_m$ offer a smörgåsbord of topological electronic states and magnetic phenomena [1-3]. The hexagonal MnSb$_4$Te$_7$ is one such van der Waals material. The unit cell can be described by the $P\bar{3}m1$ space group, where the Sb$_2$Te$_3$ topological layers are sandwiched between magnetic MnSb$_2$Te$_4$ septuple layers....
Small-angle neutron scattering in the comprehensive analysis of particulate systems brings a number of benefits in a deeper understanding of physicochemical processes. The method is capable of providing a detailed structural description at the mesoscale level. Such a description must contain information about polydispersity. There are many approaches to determining the size distribution...
The possibility to measure neutron transmission spectra in each pixel of imaging dataset enables various studies of microstructure within solid materials. Among these studies there is a possibility to map the temperature distribution within materials without direct access to them, e.g. enclosed within other structures. Variation of both Bragg edge wavelength and the width of neutron resonance...
The phonon density of states (PDOS), which plays an important role in the mechanisms that determine the unique physical properties of nanocrystals (NCs), strongly depends on the reduced size of the NC.
While these confinement effects are often invoked to explain surprising results, the direct study of lattice dynamics in NCs is difficult.
Theoretically, it is shown that as the NC size...
By utilizing time-of-flight neutron reflectometry (ToF-NR) under different relative humidities, we demonstrate that grafted polymer brushes constituted by hydrophilic cyclic macromolecules exhibit more compact conformation with lower roughness compared to linear brush analogues, due to the absence of dangling chain ends extending at the interface. [1] In addition, due to increased interchain...
SAPHiR is an instrument-under-construction designed for neutron diffraction and radiography under extreme pressure and temperature conditions at the FRM II neutron source. A multianvil press with six independently controlled rams subjects powder, fluid, and melt samples with volumes of 10–50 mm3 to a current maximum pressure of 15 GPa and temperatures up to ca. 2300 K. An additional...
easyScience[1] is an initiative from the European Spallation Neutron Source (ESS) to unify simulation software across neutron scattering. DON’T PANIC! While this goal seems an unsurmountable challenge, it is achievable as demonstrated by our current releases. The easyScience project has the following aims; Provide a unified method to interact the most popular technique specific simulation...
Incommensurate spiral magnets have raised tremendous interest in recent years, mainly motivated by their wealth of spin structures with potential non-trivial topology, such as skyrmions. A second field of interest is multiferroicity: Helical spin structures are in general ferroelectric, enabling the coupling of the electric and magnetic properties. Both fields present enormous potential for...
The McStas[1] Monte Carlo ray-tracing package is a well known and widely adapted tool for the design and optimisation of neutron instrumentation world wide.
The contribution presents an overview of the project in its current state with highlight on new features in the 3.2 and 2.7.2 releases from the fall of 2022.
Further the contribution demonstrates how to easily port an existing 2.x...
TOFTOF is a direct geometry disc-chopper time-of-flight spectrometer. A cascade of seven fast rotating disc choppers is used to prepare a monochromatic pulsed beam which is focussed onto the sample by a converging super-mirror section. The scattered neutrons are detected by 1000 $_3$He detector tubes with a time resolution up to 50 ns. The detectors are mounted at a distance of 4 m and cover...
Recent developments in event driven camera systems allow the construction of a new type of scintillator-based event mode imaging devices. A neutron imaging device employing this new technology to reach high spatial and temporal resolution is currently under development at the NECTAR instrument at FRMII. The goal is for the detector to have a spatial resolution better than 100 μm and a timing...
The new customized SAXS/WAXS instrument from XENOCS have be installed in the JCNS X-ray laboratory from the end of 2021. As a young member of our small angle scattering instrument by using x ray as beam, the new instrument is equipped with a high flux metal-jet source and a moveable Eiger 2R4M SAXS detector. With additional 4-axis motorized WAXS detector and Bonse-Hart USAXS the scattering...
Polarized neutron diffraction is a powerful tool for studying condensed matter physics and to probe the spin and orbital properties of unpaired electrons. POLI is a polarized neutron single crystal diffractometer built on the hot neutron source at MLZ. Currently three standard setups are implemented on POLI: 1) zero-field spherical neutron polarimetry using CRYOPAD; 2) polarized neutron...
The European Spallation Source (ESS), which is currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, will be the most powerful pulsed neutron source in the world. A design study project named HighNESS is dedicated to develop a second neutron source at ESS that compared to the first source, located above the spallation target and designed for high cold and thermal brightness, provides higher intensity...
SOFIA is the horizontal-type neutron reflectometer at Beamline 16 (BL16) of the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Allowing users to keep the sample horizontal while measuring the whole q-range, SOFIA is advantageous for observing liquid-vapor and liquid-liquid free interfaces. Thus, SOFIA is, by and large, utilized...
The advent of high-current accelerator systems launched the development of high-current accelerator-driven neutron sources (HiCANS) utilizing low energy nuclear reactions. This development can counteract the increasing shutdown of existing fission-based neutron sources and a resulting decline in available neutron beam days as well as establishing HiCANS as a next generation national neutron...
Neutron supermirrors are the bedrock of all modern neutron beamlines both polarized and unpolarized. However, while the technology has improved remarkably over the last 20 years there are still areas where significant improvements can be made regarding interface roughness reduction, better polarization and elimination of magnetic stray fields when polarizing the neutrons. Adding 11B4C to Fe/Si...
We present a compact 3He polariser to be used as polarisation analyser for KWS1.The 38 cm long magic box magnetic cavity with angled plates on the entrance side provides a 3He magnetic lifetime of 300 hours with the cell centred in the device, up to 7 cm diameter cell is used and polarization is performed with one laser, a relatively large angular coverage providing up to ±0.07 ̊A−1 at 4.5 ̊A...
We consider a dilute ensemble of randomly-oriented noninteracting spherical nanomagnets and investigate its magnetization structure and ensuing neutron-scattering response by numerically solving the Landau-Lifshitz equation. Taking into account the isotropic exchange interaction, an external magnetic field, a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for the particle core, and in particular the Neel...
Since water has a high impact on the chemical-physical characteristics of Ionic Liquids (IL), both as a contaminant or as cosolvent, the detailed knowledge of the intermolecular interactions in IL/water solutions is a crucial step for understanding and predicting the range of properties of these non-conventional solvents for applications in many fields including electrochemistry, biochemistry,...
To date, several materials have been proposed as hosts for the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) spatially modulated superconducting state [1], but direct experimental proof has been challenging, with only the organic superconductors providing uncontested evidence for the state [2]. The FFLO state is expected to develop at high fields and low temperatures in materials with strong Pauli...
We have extended our previous investigations on self- and collective dynamics of liquid water [1,2] to the case of tetrahydrofuran (THF). Neutron polarization analysis on a wide-angle time-of-flight spectrometer (PLET @ ISIS) has allowed measuring separately coherent and incoherent dynamic structure factor of deuterated THF with sub-meV resolution in a wide scattering vector (Q) range. The...
ORSO is a group of reflectometry scientists from across the globe that are interested in im-proving neutron and X-ray reflectometry through collaboration. The aims and focus of our working groups are arranged as follows:
• The education and outreach working group aims to develop understanding of reflec-tivity techniques and disseminate information about reflectivity analysis.
• The File...
The development of the Sample Environment Communication Standard and its relase is a huge achievement. Since a standard is only good if it is applied, at SINQ/PSI we are in the process to implement SECoP into the data acquisition process. Together with the Maier-Leibnitz-Zentrum Garching/Germany we developed Frappy.
Frappy is a python framework to implement a device communication and...
Technical University of Munich (TUM) is committed to convert its research neutron source Heinz Maier Leibnitz (FRM II) to a lower enriched fuel. Since 2004, TUM together with its European and International partners develops new high-density fuels and tools for reactor core modelling for the conversion of FRM II. As today, three fuel options are on the way to be qualified for conversion:...
In biological environments, proteins are exposed to polydisperse surrounding. The interaction of this environment is essential for a correct function of the cell and disfunctions may lead to diseases. To understand the diffusive properties of proteins in polydisperse environments, we performed several quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) experiments. Changes in the probed short-time...
Metal organic magnets (MOM) have enormous potential to host a variety of electronic and magnetic phases that originate from a strong interplay between the spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom. Due to the unique possibility of controlling interatomic distances and magnetic exchange pathways by coordination chemistry, a plethora of MOM have been reported. This way, 0D to 3D magnetic...
We have studied room-temperature neutron and X-ray crystal structures of the triosephosphate isomerase Glu97Gln variant in complex with the inhibitor 2-phosphoglycolate (PGA) that mimics a reaction intermediate. The results clearly show that Glu-167 is protonated and hydrogen bonded to the carboxylate group of the inhibitor. The other carboxylate atom of PGA forms a hydrogen bond to Lys-13,...
Proteins are biological macromolecules built from a sequence of amino acids with varying characteristics as hydrophobicity, charge and side-group that determine their biological and physical properties. Unfolded proteins, like intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), share similarities with polymers in structure and dynamics. For thermal unfolded Ribonuclease A or the IDP myelin basic protein...
Materials with geometrically frustrated lattice structures are highly interesting as they often exhibit unconventional phases of matter. While most research on frustrated materials has been performed on insulating spin systems, only little work has been done on magnetically frustrated metallic systems. Notably, one of the pressing question in the field is how frustrated interactions can affect...
In the superconductor Niobium the vortex-vortex interaction shows in addition to the purely repulsive also an attractive term. This leads to the formation of the intermediate mixed state (IMS) where flux-free Meissner state domains and vortex clusters coexist. Besides being a prominent example of exotic vortex matter this two-domain structure can also act as a highly tunable model system for...
Cellular membranes are essential components of cells that compartmentalize cellular events, control communication between compartments and with the exterior, enable the formation of gradients of ions and other solutes, and provide a proper environment for the large percentage of proteins that are membrane bound or associated to it1. The ability to carry out this diverse array of essential...
The High Brilliance Neutron Source (HBS) is expected to be the next-generation neutron facility, which uses low proton energy (70MeV) to achieve high neutron brilliance. As the moderator-reflector unit is correlated to the neutron moderation, reflection, and transportation, designing a suitable moderator-reflector unit is one of the important issues for achieving the “high brilliance” of the...
The Institut Laue-Langevin has been performing experiments at the cutting edge of research for more than 40 years now, in fields as varied as molecular biology, chemistry, fundamental physics, materials science and the environment. The ILL provides the scientific community with 40 high-performance instruments constantly maintained at the highest state of the art.
To exploit the full...
The syntheses of aluminum substituted strontium hexaferrite nanoparticles, SrFe12-xAlxO19 with x=0-3, via three different preparation methods were investigated: hydrothermal autoclave synthesis (AC), a citrate sol-gel synthesis (SG) and a solid-salt-matrix (SSM). Evaluation of macroscopic magnetic properties revealed that for the SG sample...
The standard project management methodologies were developed to serve a world where the business objectives are focused on financial benefit. Such methodologies with emphasis on delivering programmes and projects within the triple constrain need to be strongly adapted to the unique environment of research infrastructures (RIs). Even the definition of project, programme and portfolio needs to...
Two-dimensional van der Waals materials host a diverse landscape of optical, electronic and topologically non-trivial states in the monolayer limit and have therefore fuelled a search for the next candidate materials that may enable novel information technologies. The magnetic features can be controlled by different processes including thickness, doping and other tuning parameters. CrI3...
We present developments towards spin-selective in-situ detection of ultracold neutrons, motivated by the search for a permanent electric dipole moment. Magnetic fields generated by microstructured superconductors will produce a spin-dependent shift of the neutron-optical potential at a reflecting surface layer. Low-field-seeking neutrons then penetrate to an underlying absorber with...
In December 1997 the OSIRIS beamline at the ISIS Facility, UK, recorded its first neutron spectrum. The instrument enjoyed a first stint as a cold neutron diffractometer before the spectroscopic capabilities were fully commissioned. OSIRIS soon became a workhorse QENS spectrometer as well a highly successful cold neutron excitations spectrometer. The status of the instrument is recognized by...
The ILL Deuteration Laboratory is a platform dedicated to isotope labelling of biological molecules. More specifically, the D-Lab team members are experts in the deuteration of biomolecules for neutron applications, such as neutron scattering, protein crystallography, dynamics and reflectometry. The D-Lab is part of the ILL Life Sciences Group within the Partnership for Structural Biology...
The reflected neutron flux from state-of-the-art neutron multilayer mirrors is hampered primarily by insufficient layer definitions. To achieve the ultimate flat and abrupt interfaces (±½ atomic layer), the mirror should be made as a single crystal, artificially layered, heteroepitaxial structure (superlattice, SL). Here we explore CrBx/TiBy (0001)/Al2O3 (0001) SL mirrors, grown by magnetron...
Hybrid aerogels in general are promising scaffolds for bone regeneration owing to the high porosity, nanostructured surface and versatile functionalization of this family of sol-gel materials. Our study focuses on the design, synthesis, in-depth structural characterization and in vitro biological testing of calcium(II)-containing hybrid borosilicate aerogels. Little is known about the behavior...
We present a general classification [1, 2] to answer the question: which groups allow to describe a given magnetic, electric and toroidal polarisation mode? These three classifications are based on magnetic point groups used in two contexts: (i) the magnetic point group of the magnetic crystal class and (ii) the magnetic site symmetry point group of the Wyckoff position of interest. The...
Iron oxide nanoparticles are presently considered as promising objects for various medical applications including targeted drug delivery and magnetic hyperthermia. The nanoparticle solution in water has to posses large enough saturation magnetization to react on external magnetic field. However, there remains several unsolved questions regarding the effect of size onto nanoparticle overall...
Neutron scattering is well-suited to the study of biological membrane lipids and has the potential to contribute unique view into the role membranes play in both health and disease, as well as medical treatments, by employing deuterium labeling. However, modeling the lipid environment in living cells poses a challenge due to their complex and tightly-controlled composition. By extracting and...
T-REX is a bispectral direct geomentry neutron chopper spectrometer, currently being constructed at the ESS. The instrument is a collaboration between Forschungszentrum Jülich and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR).
T-REX is a very versatile instrument and will mainly focus on probing single crystals in the scientific areas of low dimensional, topological and frustrated materials,...
At the Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) a new source for ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) with a solid deuterium converter is currently under construction. The source is designed to deliver UCN to four different experiments simultaneously, located in the experiment hall and neutron guide hall east of FRM II. This poster shall give an...
We present a concept of a GISANS instrument for the High Brilliance Source (HBS), a High Current Accelerator-based Neutron Source (HiCANS) using a moderate energy proton accelerator which allows very compact moderators and shielding, and flexible pulse repetition rates. The general layout resembles a classical SANS instrument with 10 m collimation and 10 m detector distance. In the beam...
The scattering of light, X-rays, electrons or neutrons by matter is used widespread for structural characterization from atomic to macroscopic length scales. With the advent of high-brilliance beam sources and the development fast, large area pixelated detectors, scattering patterns are now acquired at unprecedented frame rates and frame sizes. The slow analysis of these scattering patterns...
Owing to low density (3.8-4.0 g/cm3), high specific strength and stiffness, excellent creep resistance and good corrosion resistance, the β-solidifying γ-titanium aluminide with properly aligned (α2+γ) lamellar-structure have been considered as excellent candidates for modern turbine blades. Recently, it has been evidenced that when the γ lamellae are oriented to the load direction the...
Diffraction used in conjunction with molecular deuteration provides a model independent means to examine detailed structural and compositional information of model and real biological membranes in the lamellar phase. The technique provides specific information of localization of molecules and smaller units with respect to the unit cell. Deuteration is used to provide specific labelling and...
In 2023, the user program at SINQ, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), will again offer two small-angle instruments, the new SANS-LLB and as before SANS-I. SANS-LLB is the adapted and optimised PA20 SANS instrument from the Laboratoire Léon-Brillouin (LLB) that was transferred to PSI after the shutdown of the Orphée reactor in 2019 and will be operated by LLB and PSI. SANS-LLB is a general-purpose...
Bound coherent scattering lengths b(coh) are one of the basic properties of any isotope, and many experimental neutron techniques in condensed matter as well as in nuclear physics rely on these values, determined by many different scientists over decades and collected in various tables. But many of the values listed in these respectable references have large experimental uncertainties,...
CuMnSb is a half Heusler alloy which orders type-II antiferromagnetically and is, thus, unique among the 3d transitional metal heusler alloys. Theoretical calculations suggested that type-II antiferromagmetism is not the energetically favored state and is only stabilized by structural defects. Further, a high quality CuMnSb single crystal exhibits a additional phase transition within the...
KOMPASS is a polarized cold-neutron three axes spectrometer (TAS) currently undergoing its final construction phase at the MLZ in Garching. The instrument is designed to exclusively work with polarized neutrons and optimized for zero-field spherical neutron polarization analysis for measuring all elements of the polarization matrix. In contrast to other TASs, KOMPASS is equipped with a unique...
We present new scattering kernels for two materials of interest as cold and very cold neutron moderators: solid Methane in phases I &II and solid Ethane in phase III, based on simple models that include the main dynamical features of those three systems and the effect of spin correlations.
Inelastic neutron scattering experiments were performed using the TOSCA spectrometer at the ISIS...
Wormlike micelles may serve as a model system for linear polymers and are studied extensively. Micelles, unlike polymers, can break and reform. Their self-assembled structure makes them unique in applications where high shear rates may be encountered, such as drag reduction, and as a templates for materials synthesis. The rheological properties of viscoelastic materials can be described by the...
Proteins are complex molecular systems whose internal dynamics is
characterized by a vast spectrum of time scales, ranging from
sub-picoseconds for vibrations of chemical bonds to seconds and beyond
for large conformational rearrangements. Using a "minimalistic"
multi-time scale model for the relaxation dynamics of
proteins~[1,2], we show here that even small changes due to external...
Products derived from milk or plant based emulsions by gelation like cheese or yoghurt have a large range of structural features from atomic to macroscopic length scales. Scattering techniques with neutrons and x-rays provide an unique view into this fascinating world of interfaces and networks provided by proteins and lipids. Combining these ensemble averaging scattering techniques with a...
We present a new cryomagnet development for ESS, principally for use on the MAGiC instrument, but also suitable for other diffraction instruments in the ESS suite. In order to take advantage of the large detector area and polarised beam, a very large, asymmetric, aperture has been prioritised, with a maximum field of 8 T. The bore size is 50 mm, to allow for ULT inserts and bulky samples such...
High quality gluten-free food alternatives are increasingly sort after as supplements for people requiring diets with low glycaemic indexes. The challenge to produce alternatives with high enough quality to meet consumer demands. Structure at the nanoscale is highly related to the texture, quality, mouthfeel of the final product. Here, we perform for the first time a structural...
A new methodology for the determination of self-diffusivities in solids and the corresponding activation energy of diffusion using in-situ Neutron Reflectometry is presented. In contrast to the classical ex-situ approach based on a sequence of isothermal measurements at different temperatures, the in-situ method allows one to work with a single experiment based on ramping the temperature with...
The three-axis spectrometer IN8 offers to ILL users advanced conditions for studies of thermal excitations in single crystals and liquids. The instrument performance and flexibility are ensured by the use of large double-focusing monochromators and analysers with independently variable and remotely controlled horizontal and vertical focusing (bending) of the crystal reflecting planes providing...
In frustrated magnetic systems, the competition amongst interactions can introduce extremely high degeneracy and prevent the system from readily selecting a unique ground state. In such cases, the magnetic order is often exquisitely sensitive to the balance among the interactions, allowing tuning among novel magnetically ordered phases. We present antlerite, Cu$_3$SO$_4$(OH)$_4$, as a...
Small-angle neutron scattering is a very versatile technique which can be applied in virtually any field of neutron science, be it soft matter, biological or medical sciences, material science, hard matter or magnetic materials. In all those fields, SANS helps investigate structure on the nano-scale from a few nanometers up to several hundred nanometers.
In order to achieve this, SANS has...
Microgels are stimuli responsive polymers with possible applications e.g. for drug delivery. A key feature of them is the sudden shrinkage, induced by temperature or other external parameters, called Volume Phase Transition (VPT). The VPT is intrinsically connected to the water-polymer, or more generally to the solvent-polymer interaction. PNIPAM in ethanol, e.g. remains swollen also at higher...
Neutron scattering allows for quite complicated sample environments with control over the sample conditions, such as controlled temperature, as well as the presence of strong magnetic fields.
The presence of magnets in scattering experiments necessitates a significant amount of materials in the structure. The coils of the magnets, which are not in the direct beam, add more material into the...
Small-angle scattering is an increasingly common method for characterizing particle ensembles in a wide variety of sample types and for diverse areas of application. SASfit has been one of the most comprehensive and flexible curve fitting programs for decades, with many specialized tools for various fields. Here, a selection of enhancements and additions to the SASfit program are presented...
The idea of quantum spin liquid (QSL) on the triangular lattice was proposed by P. Anderson in 1973. Since his work, a lot of theoretical and experimental efforts have been made to explore deeper this state. Here we present the results for the combined study of structural and dynamic properties in application to the polycrystalline CuSb$_2$O$_6$ sample. The diffraction experiments using both...
Neutron reflectometry is used by a wide community of scientific groups addressing questions in many different fields, including materials science, magnetism, polymer physics and biophysics. The analysis of reflectivity data from instruments around the world is traditionally performed either with computer programs that use a graphical user interface for building simple slab models of the...
The HBS is a high brilliance accelerator driven neutron source currently in the design process. It provides different target stations that follow the same duty cycle but offer different frequencies and pulse length. Cold and thermal moderators are used to adjust the neutron spectrum. The target stations with its moderators thus allow choosing the parameters best fitting to an instrument or...
The sol-gel auto-combustion method and the sonochemical co-precipitation method were used to prepare Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22 (S1) and partially Al substituted Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Al0.08Fe11.92O22 (S2) powders. The XRD analyses show that the samples are single-phase Y-type hexaferrite. SEM images of the S1 sample obtained by auto-combustion revealed particles of a very non-uniform shape and...
H2V3O8 (HVO) is a promising high-capacity cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIB). It allows reversible two-electron transfer during electrochemical lithium cycling processes, yielding a very attractive theoretical capacity of 378 mAh g–1. Aimed at providing insights into the lithium storage behavior of HVO, we employed a combination of high-resolution synchrotron X-ray and neutron...
In the evaluation of capability gaps in the initial instrument suite, the European Spallation Source (ESS) has identified a dedicated surface scattering beamline as a high priority for the next phase of instruments. Therefore, a wide consortium, building on the strength in surface and interface science in Sweden, has formed to push for a project to design and construct such an instrument at...
Single chain nanoparticles (SCNPs) are unimolecular polymer chains folded or collapsed via intra-molecular cross-linking under high dilution, leading to sparse conformations and a topological polydispersity similar to that of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Currently, there is great interest in expanding this technology to biodegradable and biocompatible polymers, including proteins....
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source is now seeking its next phase of new instruments and significant upgrades to existing instruments: a portfolio of projects that has been called the Endeavour Programme. Endeavour will increase both capacity and capability of the facility to address 21st century challenges and enable research in areas such as advanced materials and manufacturing, clean energy...
The octahedrally and tetrahedrally coordinated Fe3+ (S=5/2) ions in Bi2Fe4O9 form a quasi two-dimensional Cairo pentagonal lattice (Pbam). Combined with predominantly antiferromagnetic interactions, this leads to a strong frustration with Tn=245 K while θCW=1670 K in a fairly unexplored geometry. The magnetic structure for T < Tn can be indexed with k=(½, ½, ½) with a noncollinear magnetic...
Apart from fission and spallation, neutrons can also be generated by nuclear reactions induced by protons in the MeV range. This is now applied in High-Current Accelerator-driven Neutron Sources (HiCANS), which are able to reach performances like medium sized reactor or spallation sources. One of these projects is the High Brilliance neutron Source (HBS) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, which is...
With the transformative development of event-based detectors, new perspectives for detection systems for various types of radiation were opened up. A recently developed event-driven imaging system based on Timepix3 sensor technology is capable of observing and time-stamping the optical signal induced by particle interactions in scintillator materials with nanosecond temporal and micrometer...
Spin and charge stripe correlations and their dynamics have been well explored in the ordered state of La-based 214-nickelates for last 3 decades. Recently, we have also explored magnetic excitations in the ordered spin-stipes phases of hole-doped Pr-based nickelates Pr$_{2-x}$NiSrO$_{4+\delta}$ [1-3]. In this regards, what remains less explored is the fluctuating state of the spin stripes...
Neutron and X-ray scattering are well-established techniques to understand the material structure and different phenomena within the systems. However, the structure can not be uniquely determined from the scattering experiments due to the phase problem, i.e. two different structures can yield the same scattering curve. Also, it is important to explain the reasons behind the phenomena observed...
Spin caloritronic materials are currently in the spotlight due to their potential exploitation in the next generation of spintronics applications. Composite systems, consisting of magnetic-insulator (MI) and heavy-metal (HM) bilayers, combine both spintronic and thermoelectric functionalities by interconversion of charge-, spin-, and heat-currents. A prominent example are devices exploiting...
The use of polarized neutrons is very important to cover new science cases and polarized neutrons. Polarized neutrons will be made available on many European Spallation Source (ESS) instruments. There are a number of technologies available for polarizers and polarization analyzers, among them polarizing supermirror and polarized 3He, which will both be used at the ESS. The selection of the...
We report on the results of powder neutron diffraction of Ni$_2$V$_2$O$_7$. Two crystallographic Ni$^{2+}$-ion sites carrying spin-1 exist. Magnetic phase transitions occur at $T_{\rm N1} = 6.7$ and $T_{\rm N2} = 5.7$ K. A 1/2 quantum magnetization plateau appears between 8 and 30 T at 2 K.
We carried out neutron diffraction experiments at 0 T using the HRPT diffractometer at PSI. The...
The MIEZE (Modulated IntEnsity with Zero Effort) resonant spin-echo technique at the RESEDA instrument at FRM II has its optimum resolution at small scattering angles, i.e. SANS type geometries. Recent upgrades (MIASANS) have further increased the resolution in the small angle regime. Going forward, there is the possibility [1] to extend the optimum MIEZE resolution to wide angles by...
Neutron Spin Echo (NSE) spectroscopy uses polarized neutrons; however, it was never used for performing polarization analysis at the same time, which can offer a very promising extension. In NSE experiments one requires a polarizer for preparing the precessing polarization of the incoming neutron beam and a polarization analyzer for observing the precessing polarization of the scattered beam. ...
Complementary use of scattering methods and molecular dynamics (MD) makes it possible to elucidate structural details of complex molecular systems such as biological or electrochemical interfaces.
Although several softwares aiming at some of the tasks involved in the process have been described in the past, an easy to use, well documented and tested, fully FOSS, solution was lacking.
In this...
Co-assembly of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes with proteins is a well-studied approach for designing stimuli-responsive nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery. [1,2] However, the complexity of protein structure limits the ability to predict and tune properties of the formed nanoparticles. The ultimate goal of our research is to reveal the main triggers for the morphological transition of...
Superalloys are key materials of our modern society. They are not only used in harsh environments of power plants for energy conversion but also in aerospace or marine applications, as they combine excellent mechanical properties at high homologous temperatures with very good oxidation and corrosion resistance. To further improve the efficiency of engines, advanced superalloys with improved...
Neutron Depth Profiling (NDP) is a non-destructive, element-specific, high-resolution nuclear analytical technique, which is often used to probe concentration profiles of lithium, boron, nitrogen, helium and several other light elements in different host materials. The N4DP instrument is located at the Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) beam line of Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ),...
Deuterated samples are used in neutron scattering to investigate the dynamics of hydrogen atoms by contrast matching, due to the low incoherent and high coherent cross-sections of deuterium. The use of fully deuterated proteins has been restricted so far to the study of light hydration water or the collective dynamics of proteins in D_2 O.
In order to study kinetic isotope effects of the...
Texture analysis by means of non-destructive, diffraction methods offers the statistical access to the orientation space of crystalline building blocks on microstructural level in materials characterization. Depending on the combination of the investigated material and incident type of radiation, the necessary diffraction signal can be detected from different depth and volumes of a sample....
Sugar-based surfactants offers an appealing and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional surfactants but can also offer new functionality in applications. The interfacial behaviour of sugar-based surfactants will be discussed in relation to their solution behaviour. Here, the adsorption behaviour of the α- and β-anomer of hexadecylmaltoside (α-C16G2 and β-C16G2) at the solid-liquid...
Neutron single crystal diffraction provides an experimental method for the direct location of hydrogen and deuterium atoms in biological macromolecules. At the FRM II neutron source the neutron single crystal diffractometer BIODIFF, a joint project of the Forschungszentrum Jülich and the FRM II, is mainly dedicated to the structure determination of enzymes. Typical scientific questions address...
Carbon based polymer nanocomposites have many useful applications and the change in the physical properties of the modified composite from that of the raw polymer is of significant importance. In this presentation I will discuss a series of polymer-carbon composites (graphene oxide, carbon black, carbon nanoparticles) measured using both SANS and SESANS and apply a number of different...
Neutrons are powerful and have unique characteristics, which make possible non-destructive and operando characterizations of cylindrical and prismatic Li-ion batteries. X-rays are an equally competent tool that can provide complementary information on pouch type Li-ion cells during cell operation. Expectedly, both are also capable of providing information at material and electrode level. This...
The Laboratoire Léon Brillouin is currently evaluating the use of High brilliance Compact Accelerator-driven Neutron Sources (HiCANS) to provide the French neutron scattering community with a suite of world-class instruments. For that purpose, the performances of neutron scattering instruments around this novel type of sources must be evaluated. HERMES is a time-of-flight horizontal...
We will present how the data storage and processing landscape at MLZ will evolve in the of DAPHNE4NFDI and ERUM.
TOSCA is a high-resolution, broad band, indirect geometry chemical spectrometer operated at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, UK. As a neutron analogue to optical spectroscopy, it is optimised for the study of molecular vibrations in fields such as catalysis, hydrogen storage materials, hydrogen bonded systems, or biological and organic compounds. We present the detailed design and performance...
Neutron grating interferometers can be employed as powerful tools to perform high-precision measurements of deflection angles and scattering. A novel concept of a symmetric Talbot-Lau interferometer using three identical absorption gratings in a time-of-flight mode is under development at the University of Bern. The ultimate goal of this project is to conduct a sensitive measurement of the...
Photosystems I (PSI) and II (PSII) are pigment-protein complexes capable of performing the light-induced charge separation necessary to convert solar energy into a biochemically storable form, an essential step in photosynthesis. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is unique in providing structural information on PSI and PSII in solution under nearly physiological conditions without the need...
The SORGENTINA-RF project is presented in terms of general structure and description of the main tasks and activities to be carried out. It is devoted to the design and development of a medium power 14 MeV fusion neutron source relying on a rotating target and a deuterium/tritium ion accelerator. The main focus of the neutron facility is the production of radiopharmaceutical precursors, in...
KWS-3 is a very small angle neutron scattering diffractometer operated by JCNS at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) in Garching, Germany. The principle of this instrument is one-to-one imaging of an entrance aperture onto a 2D position sensitive detector by neutron reflection from a double-focusing toroidal mirror. In current state, KWS-3 is covering Q-range between 3·10-5 and 2·10-2 Å-1 and...
The introduction of the topology concept has revolutionized modern solid-state research by offering new materials with such key functionality as the topological Hall effect and high charge carrier mobility useful in quantum computing.
$Ln$SbTe ($Ln$ – lanthanides) materials are one of the families extensively discussed as hosts of Dirac nodal lines, i.e., topological features in reciprocal...
The structural and electronic properties of the rutile-type oxide beta-PbO2 (plattnerite) are studied by neutron and synchrotron radiation powder diffraction and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations~[1]. The motivation to study the electronic properties of beta-PbO2 gained some additional impact related to the possible existence of topologically nontrivial [2,3]...
Using the selectivity of the crystalline $\delta$-form for hydrocarbon solvents, a controlled functionalization by sulfonation of the semi-crystalline syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) films can be achieved when large sulfonation agents such as lauroyl sulfate in chloroform solution are used, which provides homogeneous sulfonation of only of the phenyl rings in the amorphous region without...
The structure and dynamics of water in all its possible states has been investigated and simulated extensively in the past with multiple methods. Experiments have been conducted on a molecular level with neutron and X-ray scattering techniques; molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulations are also widely used for the study of water and solvated molecules. In our work we connect experimental...
The Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis instrument is located at the strongest cold neutron beam at MLZ. The samples can be irradiated in vacuum, using the highest flux, their masses can be less than a milligram. The emitted prompt gamma radiation is detected using high-purity germanium detectors. PGAA is typically used for the determination of light elements, it is unique for H (also in...
Nowadays, in neutron time of flight measurements, there are experimental setups in which many detectors record data during a single experiment. It is usually desirable to be able to sum several spectra in order to increase counting statistics, and therefore decrease uncertainties, for further analysis. A problem arises in time-of-flight experiments when the available spectra are acquired with...
Extracellular vesicles (EV) are a potent intercellular communication system, delivering proteins and genetic material throughout the body, strongly influencing the fate of recipient cells. Due to their specific biological functions and to their peculiar molecular content they have been proposed as biomarkers for various diseases and as optimal candidates for therapeutic applications. Despite...
Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) are widely used due to their attractive properties such as low density, lightweight, thermal stability, and good mechanical properties. These prerequisites make cellulose nanofibrils a promising template material for the design of hybrid colloid-bio composites and bio-inspired functional coatings. Latex colloids are excellently suited to be incorporated in...
Microstructure of engineering alloys is strongly connected with their mechanical properties such as hardness or ductility. Usually conventional methods of electronic microscopy are used for assessing morphological characteristics of the precipitates. However, in some cases the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique can be more efficient due to unique properties of neutrons such as law...
The integration of the nanoparticles with proteins has a prime interest in the field of nanobiotechnology where these complexes are aimed to utilize for different applications such as targeted drug delivery, biosensing, etc [1]. The protein adsorption on nanoparticles is governed by several interactions such as hydrogen bonding, electrostatic complexion, hydrophobic attraction. Herein, the...
Mapping of residual stresses in polycrystalline materials by neutron diffraction employs relatively large sampling volumes, which helps to smooth out stochastic noise due to limited number of contributing grains, but also causes a number of undesired effects commonly called as pseudo-strains. These include smearing of measured strain distributions, as well as false strains observed due to...
In the absence of available beam time at FRM II, we invested time to downscale detectors, computed tomography equipment and software used at the ANTARES neutron imaging facility to small, compact and portable versions that can be used at smaller low-power reactors where classic scattering experiments often cannot be performed due to lack of intensity.
CT setups including experiment controls...
The High Brilliance Neutron Source (HBS) project aims to develop a High-Current Accelerator-driven Neutron Source (HiCANS) for neutron scattering, analytics, and imaging. Amongst the instruments planned at HBS, there will be at least 5 different neutron imaging instruments to cover the different neutron energy ranges: cold, Bragg edge, thermal, resonance/epithermal, and fast.
Each one of...
In the emerging field of organic photovoltaics, donor - acceptor bulk heterojunctions are often used as active materials due to their superior performance compared to e.g. planar layered devices. In this optically active polymer layer, photons are absorbed and free charges are created.
A frequently applied and well-studied system is the combination of PTB7 as electron donor and PCBM as...
The great interest of researchers over the past years has been caused by multiferroics - materials in which magnetic and electric dipole ordering are simultaneously observed. One of the typical representatives of this class of compounds is the complex oxides of the manganese of the BiMnO3 with a structure of perovskite type. The magnetic properties of the compound are determined by positive...
Neutron reflectometry (NR) is an ideal tool for studying biological membrane models, and many different models, mimicking bacterial and mammalian cells have been developed in recent years. Often, the focus of such NR studies is on the interaction of various molecules, e.g. proteins, polymers, peptides etc with the membrane model. Another interesting use of such models is the characterisation...
A Quenching and Deformation Dilatometer (TA instruments DIL805A/D/T) operates at the MLZ for performing in-situ neutron diffraction (phase, texture, stress/strain) at STRESS-SPEC and small-angle neutron scattering (nanostructure) at SANS-1. Imaging applications are under preparation at ANTARES. With this setup, the evolution of the sample length during heating or quenching can be accurately...
In 2022, the neutron guide upgrade program at PSI was used to replace the old guide of the neutron reflectometer Amor by a full-scale Selene optics. In this context also a new polariser and a high-resolution detector were installed, and since then also the chopper and instrument electronics have been replaced.
The Selene optics essentially consists of 2 subsequent elliptic reflectors...
We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of zone-boundary magnons in Cu2OSeO3 under magnetic field. High-resolution data were recorded at the triple-axis spectrometers Thales and IN8 at the ILL. As our main result we found a strong magnetic-field dependence of the zone-boundary magnons. We discuss our results in terms of theoretical modelling elucidating putative band-sticking...
Small-Angle-Neutron-Scattering (SANS) and Grazing-Incidence-SANS (GISANS) techniques have seen a remarkable growth in their application in studies of magnetic materials. In combination with neutron polarization analysis, SANS and GISANS offer magnetic vector analysis on the micro- and mesoscopic length scale with high signal to noise ratio. However, in multiple sample environments like applied...
BornAgain is an open-source software package to model and fit SAS, GISAS, and reflectometry. It has been designed to fully reproduce the functionality of the standard software IsGISAXS, allow for hierarchical sample models of arbitrary complexity, in particular, support multilayers with arbitrary inclusions that may extend across layers, support neutron polarization and magnetic scattering,...
Single crystals of the triangular lattice antiferromagnet (TLAF) Ca$_3$NiNb$_2$O$_9$ and its non-magnetic analogue Ca$_3$MgNb$_2$O$_9$ are grown using the four-mirror optical float-zone furnace. During the growth of Ca$_3$NiNb$_2$O$_9$, the crystal boule tends to develop cracks upon cooling due to a high-temperature structural modification. Thus, depending on the growth conditions, the crystal...
ODIN is the ESS state-of-the-art multipurpose neutron imaging instrument. Using wavelength-resolved imaging with tunable medium to high wavelength resolution, ODIN will provide significantly increased chemical and structural sensitivity compared to other traditional neutron imaging instruments, with fixed (or absent) wavelength resolutions. ODIN will view both the cold and the thermal...
The role of charge stripes in cuprate superconductors is not yet understood. The undoped cuprates are antiferromagnetic Mott insulators. A simple model is that doping disrupts the AFM order and the introduced holes form stripes, with the periodicity and values of charge stripes affected by dopant concentration $x$ [1,2]. There is competition between different forms of charge and magnetic...
There are several approaches to the analysis of contrast variation data in small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) when the solvent scattering length density (SLD) is manipulated by H/D substitution. There are specific points at which the scattering intensity from the liquid system is independent of the SLD contrast between dispersed particles and dispersing media. These points, q*, are...
The kagome ice state is a two dimensional critical state of algebraic spin correlations formed by the application of a moderate magnetic field along the cubic [111] direction of a pyrochlore spin ice. Tilts of the field away from perfect alignment allow for tuning of these algebraic correlations by variations of tilt angles, field or temperature, leading to symmetry-sustaining Kasteleyn...
Poster Abstract
The newly developed Polyion complex (PIC) micelles have unparalleled significance in the construction of functionalized and ordered mesoporous materials. MesoPIC micelles are fabricated through the electrostatic complexation between a charged double hydrophilic block
copolymer (DHBC) and an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte. The formation and deformation of these micelles...
Accurate conversion of neutron time-of-flight (TOF) to wavelength is of fundamental importance to neutron scattering measurements in order to ensure the accuracy of the instruments and the experimental results. Equally important in these measurements is the determination of uncertainties, and with the appropriate precision. Especially in cases where instruments are highly configurable, the...
The modulation of thermoresponsive behavior of PNIPAM (or PNIPMAM) in aqueous solution has been widely studied by varying temperature, solvent composition, and salt concentration, which causes significant conformational changes between extended or collapsed chains via absorption or release of water. However, rare studies report on the salt effects on its block copolymer containing the...
The interplay of ferromagnetic exchange, Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction and crystal potential results in the complex phase diagram of the chiral magnet MnSi ($T_C$ ≈ 30 K). In Mn$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Si, long-range magnetic order is suppressed and helimagnetic correlations vanish at $x$ ≈ 0.2 along with a redistribution of d states at the Fermi energy.
Here, we present a study of the lattice...
S addition enables bulk metallic glass formation in Ti-based systems. To understand the role of S on glass formation, we analyzed the melt dynamics and the melt structure in Ti75Ni25-xSx (x = 0, 5, 8, 11). To process these reactive Ti-based melts, we applied containerless methods as electromagnetic and electrostatic levitation. The microscopic melt dynamics (self-diffusion) were studied by...
Prohibitins (PHB1 and PHB2) are highly conserved heterodimeric proteins arranging into a large multimeric ring at the inner mitochondrial membrane. They play a crucial role in premature cellular aging, tumor suppression, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis and mitochondrial homeostasis via their interaction with AAA-proteases. We set out to (i) characterize the interaction between the N-terminal...
We will discuss the different new sample environment at the cold neutron chopper spectromenter TOFTOF. For expample the combination of in-situ Raman and neutron spectroscopy is very powerful in order to investigate the molecular dynamics and chemical reactions inside a sampleat the same time. For this purpose we will introduce our new sample environments to combine quasi elastic (QENS) and...
Neutron scattering methods enable a broad range of material studies that are difficult to carry out with other experimental methods. One specific example is the study of soft condensed matter, which includes polymeric systems. Under certain temperatures and concentrations, these polymers may crystallize into crystalline structures. This results in interesting viscoelastic properties of the...
Pyrochlore antiferromagnets (AFM) Gd2T2O7 (T: tetravalent metal elements) are prototypical materials for realizing classical spin liquid states. However, all of them have been observed to show long-range magnetic order [1-3]. Previous specific heat data of Gd2Hf2O7 show a tiny sharp peak on the top of a large broad maximum indicating a long-range AFM order [4]. However, our sample does not...
We present neutron diffraction measurements on newly synthesized dipole-octupole pyrochlore Ce$_2$Sn$_2$O$_7$ powders grown by hydrothermal methods. We find a diffuse signal at low scattering vectors, reminiscent of a dipolar spin ice, in striking contrast to previous neutron diffraction on powder Ce$_2$Sn$_2$O$_7$ samples grown by solid-state synthesis, which found diffuse scattering at...
Historically, two methods are used to determine the wavelength of neutrons: one is a time-of-flight method separating the velocity of pulsed neutrons by the flight time, and the other is a method utilizing Bragg reflection by a monochromator such as a single crystal and multilayer mirror. The former cannot be applied for electromagnetic waves because the light velocity is constant and...
Neutron moderators come in many forms and sizes with water (H2O), methane (CH4) and molecular hydrogen (H2) being the most commonly used moderating materials. These materials have very good neutron moderating characteristics but serious disadvantages as well. As a result, the active search for a new types of moderator materials, and especially cryogenic moderator materials, is underway around...
The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) polymers have attracted great interest in the biomedical sectors, as they are water-soluble at room temperature, while they can form a gel at body temperature. Under the appropriate conditions, thermoresponsive polymers may form a 3D network, namely a thermoresponsive gel [1] with the mechanical properties in the gel state strongly depending on...
Presented three-axis neutron diffractometer setting documents the feasibility of using it in special cases high-resolution powder diffraction studies, namely, for thermomechanical (elastic and/or) plastic deformation studies of bulk polycrystalline samples when the whole powder diffraction spectrum is not required. Contrary to the conventional double-axis setting the suggested alternative...
