• Volume 71, Issue 4

October 2008,   pages  611-886d

• Foreword

• Preface

• Basic to industrial research on neutron platform in Japan

The co-location of reactor- and accelerator-based neutron sources offers a great opportunity for complementary use of steady and pulsed neutron beams in a wide variety of neutron science and technology areas ranging from basic research to industrial applications. In Japan, such a balance of two kinds of neutron sources has a long tradition and now we are entering into a new era with the commissioning of the world’s most intense pulsed neutron beams at JSNS/J-PARC plus the existing JRR-3 reactor both co-located within 1 km of each other in Tokai. The joint operation of these neutron facilities in close proximity under a program called neutron platform', will allow neutron beam access not only to professional users, familiar with both pulsed and steady state techniques but also to first-time academics and industrial researchers to neutron scattering.

• Fission, spallation or fusion-based neutron sources

In this paper the most promising technology for high power neutron sources is briefly discussed. The conclusion is that the route to high power neutron sources in the foreseeable future is spallation – short or long pulse or even CW – all of these sources will have areas in which they excel.

• J-PARC and the prospective neutron sciences

Overview of the neutron target system, instrument suite and perspective neutron sciences of J-PARC are described. The neutron facility of J-PARC, JSNS, will be operated from May 2008. JSNS will be a 1 MW pulsed spallation neutron source. About 10 high performance instruments are under construction to be ready by the Day-One.

• Modern trends in the development of position sensitive neutron detectors for condensed matter research

Different types of neutron scattering experiment for the study of condensed matter properties pose specific and often contradictory requirements for detector characteristics. There is no single type of detector which satisfies all the criteria. Therefore, compromise is inevitable and some of the characteristics are trade off in favour of others.

Present report gives an overview of detector systems presently operating at the leading neutron scattering facilities as well as some development work around the globe.

• Recent improvements in the methodology of neutron imaging

The focus of this article is on further improvements of methods in neutron imaging: the increased spatial resolution for microtomography and options for energy- selective neutron imaging. Before going into details, some common statements are given in respect to the state-of-the-art in neutron imaging. A relation to the X-ray methods is mentioned, where complementary results are obtained. The potential for the energy selection is of particular interest for future installations at the new pulsed sources, based on spallation (SNS, J-PARC, ISIS-TS2). First results from preliminary studies look very promising for future material and industrial research. Therefore, statements about the set-up of the best possible imaging systems are included in the article.

• Development of neutron detectors and neutron radiography at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Design and development of neutron detectors and R&amp;D work in neutron radiography (NR) for non-destructive evaluation are important parts of the neutron beam and allied research programme of Solid State Physics Division (SSPD) of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The detectors fabricated in the division not only meet the in-house requirement of neutron spectrometers but also the need of other divisions in BARC, Department of Atomic Energy units and some universities and research institutes in India and abroad for a variety of applications. The NR facility set up by SSPD at Apsara reactor has been used for a variety of applications in nuclear, aerospace, defense and metallurgical industries. The work done in the development of neutron detectors and neutron radiography is reported in this article.

• Neutron scattering study of the excitation spectrum of solid helium at ultra-low temperatures

There has b3een a resurgence of interest in the properties of solid helium due to the recent discovery of non-classical rotational inertia (NCRI) in solid 4He by Chan and coworkers below 200 mK which they have interpreted as a transition to a supersolid' phase. We have carried out a series of elastic and inelastic neutron scattering measurements on single crystals of hcp 4He at temperatures down to 60 mK. While we have found no direct evidence of any change in the excitation spectrum at low temperatures, we have found that the excitation spectrum of solid 4He shows several interesting features, including extra branches in addition to the phonon branches. We interpret these extra branches as single particle excitations due to propagating vacancy waves, which map on to the famous `roton minimum' long known in the excitation spectrum of superfluid liquid 4He. The results show that in fact solid 4He shares several features in common with the superfluid.

• Microscopic neutron investigation of the Abrikosov state of high-temperature superconductors

Using small angle neutron scattering we have been able to observe for the first time a well-defined vortex lattice (VL) structure both in the hole-doped LSCO and electron-doped NCCO superconductors. Our measurements on optimally doped LSCO reveal the existence of a magnetic field-induced phase transition from a hexagonal to a square coordination of the VL. Various scenarios to explain such phase transition are presented. In NCCO also a clear square VL could be detected, which is unexpectedly kept down to the lowest measurable magnetic fields.

• Phonon linewidths in YNi2B2C

Phonons in a metal interact with conduction electrons which give rise to a finite linewidth. In the normal state, this leads to a Lorentzian shape of the phonon line. Density functional theory is able to predict the phonon linewidths as a function of wave vector for each branch of the phonon dispersion. An experimental verification of such predictions is feasible only for compounds with very strong electron–phonon coupling. YN2B2C was chosen as a test example because it is a conventional superconductor with a fairly high $T_{c}$ (15.2 K). Inelastic neutron scattering experiments did largely confirm the theoretical predictions. Moreover, they revealed a strong temperature dependence of the linewidths of some phonons with particularly strong electron–phonon coupling which can as yet only qualitatively be accounted for by theory. For such phonons, marked changes of the phonon frequencies and linewidths were observed from room temperature down to 15 K. Further changes were observed on entering into the superconducting state. These changes can, however, not be described simply by a change of the phonon linewidth.

• Magnetic correlations in oxides: Neutron diffraction and neutron depolarization study

We have studied magnetic correlations in several oxide materials that belong to colossal magnetoresistive, naturally occurring layered oxide showing low-dimensional magnetic ordering, solid oxide fuel cell interconnect materials, and magnetic nanoparticles using neutron diffraction and neutron depolarization techniques. In this paper, an overview of some of these results is given.

• Corelli: Efficient single crystal diffraction with elastic discrimination

Single crystal diffuse scattering provides one of the most powerful probes of short-range correlations on the 1-100 nm scale, which often are responsible for the extreme field response of many emerging phenomena of great interest. Accurate modeling of such complex disorder from diffuse scattering data however puts stringent experimental demands, requiring measurements over large volumes of reciprocal space with sufficient momentum and energy resolution. Here, we discuss the potential of the cross-correlation technique for efficient measurement of single crystal diffuse scattering with energy discrimination, as will be implemented in a novel instrument, Corelli. Utilizing full experiment simulations, we show that this technique readily leads up to a fifty-fold gain in efficiency, as compared to traditional methods, for measuring single crystal diffuse scattering over volumes of reciprocal space with elastic discrimination.

• Total neutron scattering: The key to the local and medium range structure of complex materials

Structural characterization is mainly based on the measurement of Bragg intensities and yields the average structure of crystalline materials. The total scattering pattern, however, contains structural information over all length scales, and it can be used to obtain a complete structural picture of complex materials. Suddenly one has access to a new parameter, the real-space range of the refinement and structures can be analysed as a function of length scale straightforwardly.

• High-quality single crystals for neutron experiments

To make headway on any problem in physics, high-quality single crystals are required. In this talk, special emphasis will be placed on the crystal growth of various oxides (superconductors and magnetic materials), borides and carbides using the image furnaces at Warwick. The floating zone method of crystal growth used in these furnaces produces crystals of superior quality, circumventing many of the problems associated with, for example, flux growth from the melt. This method enables the growth of large volumes of crystal, a prerequisite especially for experiments using neutron beams. Some examples of experimental results from crystals grown at Warwick, selected from numerous in-house studies and our collaborative research projects with other UK and international groups will be discussed.

• Polymer dynamics from synthetic polymers to proteins

Starting from the standard model of polymer motion - the Rouse model - we briefly present some key experimental results on the mesoscopic dynamics of polymer systems. We touch the role of topological confinement as expressed in the reptation model and discuss in some more detail processes limiting the confinement. In the second part we relate to some new developments concerning the measurement of large-scale internal dynamics of proteins by neutron spin echo.

• Life at extreme conditions: Neutron scattering studies of biological molecules suggest that evolution selected dynamics

The short review concentrates on recent work performed at the neutrons in biology laboratories of the Institut Laue Langevin and Institut de Biologie Structurale in Grenoble. Extremophile organisms have been discovered that require extreme conditions of temperature, pressure or solvent environment for survival. The existence of such organisms poses a significant challenge in understanding the physical chemistry of their proteins, in view of the great sensitivity of protein structure and stability to the aqueous environment and to external conditions in general. Results of neutron scattering measurements on the dynamics of proteins from extremophile organisms, in vitro as well as in vivo, indicated remarkably how adaptation to extreme conditions involves forces and fluctuation amplitudes that have been selected specifically, suggesting that evolutionary macromolecular selection proceeded via dynamics. The experiments were performed on a halophilic protein, and membrane adapted to high salt, a thermophilic enzyme adapted to high temperature and its mesophilic (adapted to 37°C) homologue; and in vivo for psychrophilic, mesophilic, thermophilic and hyperthermophilic bacteria, adapted respectively to temperatures of 4°C, 37°C, 75°C and 85°C. Further work demonstrated the existence of a water component of exceptionally low mobility in an extreme halophile from the Dead Sea, which is not present in mesophile bacterial cells.

• Analysis of inelastic neutron scattering results on model compounds of the nitrogenous bases of the nucleotides

The role that model compounds can play in understanding the vibrational eigenvectors of molecules is discussed. Assigning the spectra of model compounds is of particular importance and the individual-scaling approach, that has been used with isolated molecule ab-initio calculations, is outlined. Special emphasis is given to recent work on assigning the spectra of three 5-6 heterobicyclic systems; indole, benzimidazole and isatin.

• Neutron powder diffraction of metal-organic frameworks for hydrogen storage

We review recent structural studies that we have undertaken aimed at elucidating the fundamental properties of metal-organic framework materials and their interactions with hydrogen. We have shown that exposing coordinatively unsaturated metal centers can greatly enhance the hydrogen binding energy and that they result in a significant increase of the surface packing density of adsorbed hydrogen molecules on materials' surface. We will review some of the structural aspects of these materials, especially the adsorbed hydrogen molecule surface packing density in one type of metal-organic framework, MOF-74, which can be packed even denser than that in solid hydrogen.

• Dynamics of hydrogen bonds in water and consequences for the unusual behaviour of supercooled water

The dynamics of liquid water is evaluated by the coherent quasi-elastic scattering at two different momentum transfers, in order to discriminate hydrogen bond life-time from molecular dynamics. The results indicate a possible issue for the puzzle of the behaviour of supercooled water.

• Anodic oxide growth on Zr in neutral aqueous solution

Anodization and subsequent cathodic reactions on a thin-film sample of Zr were studied with in-situ neutron reflectometry (NR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The NR results during anodization showed the originally 485 Å thick Zr film generally behaved similar to a bulk electrode in neutral solution. The anodization ratio measured at applied potentials increased in steps of 0.5 V was somewhat higher than the value determined by coulometry, while the Pilling Bedworth ratio is in good agreement with published data. Thickening of the oxide layer, accelerated immediately after each potential increase, gradually decreased over several hours, but remained non-zero even after $\sim 12$ h. The thickened oxide eventually cracked when its thickness reached $\sim 120$ Å, causing loss of passivation. Surprisingly, neither the anodization ratio nor the Pilling Bedworth ratio showed any discontinuity at the time of oxide cracking, and the EIS behaviour remained qualitatively as before. This observation is taken as the evidence that the cracked and intact regions of the electrode behave more or less independently as parallel electrodes. When the potential was eventually switched to cathodic polarity, NR shows, as expected, that the effects of oxide cracking were irreversible. However, the electrode resistance recovered partially suggesting the cracks were rapidly plugged with newly formed oxide.

• Specular neutron reflectivity and beyond

A polarized neutron reflectometer for vertical samples is available at Dhruva reactor guide hall, Trombay. The reflectometer has been designed for horizontal scattering vector. It uses a position-sensitive detector for obtaining the reflectivity pattern. This arrangement allows one to obtain diffuse or off-specular intensity around any specular peak at one go. We have used this instrument for studying the structure of various metal-metal and metal-semiconductor multilayers by specular reflectometry. We have also been successful in understanding interface morphology of several films through diffuse neutron reflectometry (DNR) on this reflectometer. Some of the recent results are presented in this paper to demonstrate the strength of these two techniques.

• Non-classical neutron beams for fundamental and solid state research

The curious dual nature of the neutron, sometimes a particle, sometimes a wave, is wonderfully manifested in the various non-local interference and quantum contextuality effects observed in neutron interferometry. Non-classical states may become useful for novel fundamental and solid state research. Here we discuss unavoidable quantum losses as they appear in neutron phase-echo and spin rotation experiments and we show how entanglement effects in a single particle system demonstrate quantum contextuality. In all cases of interactions, parasitic beams are produced which cannot be recombined completely with the original beam. This means that a complete reconstruction of the original state would, in principle, be impossible which causes a kind of intrinsic irreversibility. Even small interaction potentials can have huge effects when they are applied in quantum Zeno-like experiments. Recently, it has been shown that an entanglement between external and internal degrees of freedom exists even in single particle systems. This contextuality phenomenon also shows that a quantum system carries much more information than usually extracted. The path towards advanced neutron quantum optics will be discussed.

• In the wonderland of ultra-parallel neutron beams

Bragg reflections from single crystals yield angular widths of a few arcsec for thermal neutron beams. The Bonse-Hart proposal to attain a sharp, nearly rectangular profile by Bragg reflecting neutrons multiply from a channel-cut single crystal, was realized in its totality three and a half decades later by achieving the corresponding Darwin reflection curves for 5.23 Å neutrons. This facilitated SUSANS (Super USANS) measurements in the $Q \sim 10^{-5}$ Å-1 range. The polarized neutron option was introduced into the SUSANS set-up by separating the up- and down-spin neutron beams by $\sim 10$ arcsec with a magnetic (air) prism. The neutron angular width has recently been reduced further by an order of magnitude to $\sim 0.6$ arcsec by diffracting 5.3 Å neutrons from a judiciously optimized Bragg prism. This constitutes the most parallel monochromatic neutron beam produced to date. I present the first SUSANS spectra probing the $Q \sim 10^{-6}$ Å-1 domain, recorded with this beam.

• Molecular motion in restricted geometries

Molecular dynamics in restricted geometries is known to exhibit anomalous behaviour. Diffusion, translational or rotational, of molecules is altered significantly on confinement in restricted geometries. Quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) offers a unique possibility of studying molecular motion in such systems. Both time scales involved in the motion and the geometry of motion can be studied using QENS. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation not only provides insight into the details of the different types of motion possible but also does not suffer limitations of the experimental set-up. Here we report the effect of confinement on molecular dynamics in various restricted geometries as studied by QENS and MD simulations: An example where the QENS technique provided direct evidence of phase transition associated with change in the dynamical behaviour of the molecules is also discussed.

• Inelastic neutron scattering and lattice dynamics of minerals

We review current research on minerals using inelastic neutron scattering and lattice dynamics calculations. Inelastic neutron scattering studies in combination with first principles and atomistic calculations provide a detailed understanding of the phonon dispersion relations, density of states and their manifestations in various thermodynamic properties. The role of theoretical lattice dynamics calculations in the planning, interpretation and analysis of neutron experiments are discussed. These studies provide important insights in understanding various anomalous behaviour including pressure-induced amorphization, phonon and elastic instabilities, prediction of novel high pressure phase transitions, high pressure{temperature melting, etc.

• Negative thermal expansion in framework compounds

We have studied negative thermal expansion (NTE) compounds with chemi- cal compositions of NX2O8 and NX2O7 (N=Zr, Hf and X=W, Mo, V) and M2O (M=Cu, Ag) using the techniques of inelastic neutron scattering and lattice dynamics. There is a large variation in the negative thermal expansion coefficients of these compounds. The inelastic neutron scattering experiments have been carried out using polycrystalline and single crystal samples at ambient pressure as well as at high pressures. Experimental data are useful to confirm the predictions made from our lattice dynamical calculations as well as to check the quality of the interatomic potentials developed by us. We have been able to successfully model the NTE behaviour of these compounds. Our studies show that unusual phonon softening of low energy modes is able to account for NTE in these compounds.

• Neutron diffraction study of multipole order in light rare-earth hexaborides

Multipole interactions are known to play a central role in the unconventional properties of light rare-earth hexaborides and especially of C$_{e}$B6. Substituting Pr at the Ce sites has the effect of enhancing exchange interactions and changing the symmetry of the local 4f charge distribution, while suppressing the octupole moment. The (T,H) magnetic phase diagrams of the Ce$_{x}$Pr$_{1-x}$B6 compounds display a large variety of ordered phases involving magnetic and/or charge degrees of freedom. Here we focus on the compound Ce0.7Pr$_{0:3B6}, which is located slightly beyond the Pr concentration where the antiferroquadrupolar phase of pure CeB6 is suppressed in zero field. The different magnetic structures have been characterized by neutron diffraction and their origin is discussed in connection with recent non-resonant X-ray results by Tanaka et al. • Neutron scattering investigations of multiferroic YMnO3 Institut Laue-Langevin, BP 156, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France • Neutron scattering from 𝛼-Ce at epithermal neutron energies Neutron scattering data, using neutrons of incident energies as high as 2 eV, on 𝛼-Ce and 𝛼-Ce-like systems such as CeRh2, CeNi2, CeFe$_{2}4, CeRu2, and many others that point clearly to the substantially localized 4f electronic state in these systems are reviewed. The present interpretation is contrary to the widely held view that the 4f electrons in these systems form a narrow itinerant electron 4f band.

• Spin lattice coupling in multiferroic hexagonal YMnO3

Aiming to shed light on the possible existence of hybrid phonon—magnon excitations in multiferroic manganites, neutron scattering measurements have been un-dertaken at LLB and ILL on the particular case of hexagonal YMnO3. Our experiments focused on a transverse acoustic phonon mode polarized along the ferroelectric axis. The neutron data show that below the magnetic transition, this particular phonon mode splits in two different branches. The upper branch is found to coincide with a spin wave mode. This manifestation of a strong spin-lattice coupling is discussed in terms of a possible hybridization between the two types of elementary excitations, the phonon and magnons.

• Small-angle neutron scattering study of structural evolution of different phases in protein solution

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been used to study the structural evolution of different phases in protein solution leading to crystallization, denaturation and gelation. The protein solution under crystallization mostly consists of monomers and dimers, and higher-mers are not observed as they are perhaps formed in very small numbers. The onset and the rate of crystallization strongly depend on the salt concentration. Protein denaturation on addition of surfactant occurs due to the formation of micelle-like clusters along the unfolded polypeptide chains of the protein. The structure of such protein{surfactant complex is found to be independent of the size of the micelles in their pure surfactant solutions. The structure of temperature-induced protein gels shows a fractal structure. Rheology of these gels shows a strong dependence on varying pH or protein concentration, whereas the structure of such gels is found to be similar.

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Posted on July 25, 2019