Spin-flip (paramagnetic) scattering and neutron depolarization studies were performed on Ce₂Fe₁₇ in its paramagnetic phase on the Dhruva neutron polarization analysis spectrometer. The absence of normalQ dependence of the scattered spin flip intensity shows that Ce₂Fe₁₇ is not a normal paramagnetic and there exist superparamagnetic clusters of sufficiently large dimensions (∼100Å). The observed neutron depolarization gives an indication of the dynamics of these Ce₂Fe₁₇ superparamagnetic clusters.

The details of construction and principle of polarized neutron spectrometer at Dhruva reactor, Trombay, for neutron depolarization studies have been described. The feasibility in carrying out neutron depolarization studies in order to know the nature of magnetic ordering in various types of magnetic systems on mesoscopic length scale has been shown.