Spin echo small angle neutron scattering from nanometres to microns

by Dr Steven Parnell (TU Delft)

Monday 26 Jun 2023, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Berlin

PH HS 3 (Physics Department)

 

 

Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) is a highly established technique for probing materials at the nanoscale. However the high level of collimation required to reach low momentum transfers  (and hence longer length scales) results in a throttling of the incident beam flux, reaching a point where such techniques become unviable. However via encoding of the scattering angle into the neutron spin we are able to measure structures up to micron length scales. This can be a great asset in hierarchical structures or in general studying systems forming from small building blocks.

 

I will show studies in polymer processing and nanoparticles where combinations of SANS and spin-echo SANS have given critical information. I will explain what types of instruments are available and how to analyse the resulting data. I will also introduce the SEMSANS concept which allows the probing of length scales from the nm to the micron and can be applied to complex systems (such as bacteria) with hierarchical structures and finally comment on the prospects for probing magnetic structures.