Neutron diffraction
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Neutron diffraction or elastic neutron scattering is the application of
Instrumental and sample requirements
The technique requires a source of neutrons. Neutrons are usually produced in a
The technique is most commonly performed as powder diffraction, which only requires a polycrystalline powder. Single crystal work is also possible, but the crystals must be much larger than those that are used in single-crystal X-ray crystallography. It is common to use crystals that are about 1 mm3.[3]
The technique also requires a device that can detect the neutrons after they have been scattered.
Summarizing, the main disadvantage to neutron diffraction is the requirement for a nuclear reactor. For single crystal work, the technique requires relatively large crystals, which are usually challenging to grow. The advantages to the technique are many - sensitivity to light atoms, ability to distinguish isotopes, absence of radiation damage,[3] as well as a penetration depth of several cm[1]
Nuclear scattering
Like all
Neutrons and X-rays interact with matter differently. X-rays interact primarily with the
The nuclei of atoms, from which neutrons scatter, are tiny. Furthermore, there is no need for an
Magnetic scattering
Although neutrons are uncharged, they carry a magnetic moment, and therefore interact with magnetic moments, including those arising from the electron cloud around an atom. Neutron diffraction can therefore reveal the microscopic magnetic structure of a material.[4]
Magnetic scattering does require an atomic form factor as it is caused by the much larger electron cloud around the tiny nucleus. The intensity of the magnetic contribution to the diffraction peaks will therefore decrease towards higher angles.
Uses
Neutron diffraction can be used to determine the
Neutron diffraction is closely related to X-ray powder diffraction.[5] In fact, the single crystal version of the technique is less commonly used because currently available neutron sources require relatively large samples and large single crystals are hard or impossible to come by for most materials. Future developments, however, may well change this picture. Because the data is typically a 1D powder diffractogram they are usually processed using Rietveld refinement. In fact the latter found its origin in neutron diffraction (at Petten in the Netherlands) and was later extended for use in X-ray diffraction.
One practical application of elastic neutron scattering/diffraction is that the
Neutron diffraction can also be employed to give insight into the 3D structure any material that diffracts.[6][7]
Another use is for the determination of the solvation number of ion pairs in electrolytes solutions.
The magnetic scattering effect has been used since the establishment of the neutron diffraction technique to quantify magnetic moments in materials, and study the magnetic dipole orientation and structure. One of the earliest applications of neutron diffraction was in the study of magnetic dipole orientations in antiferromagnetic transition metal oxides such as manganese, iron, nickel, and cobalt oxides. These experiments, first performed by Clifford Shull, were the first to show the existence of the antiferromagnetic arrangement of magnetic dipoles in a material structure.[8] Now, neutron diffraction continues to be used to characterize newly developed magnetic materials.
Hydrogen, null-scattering and contrast variation
Neutron diffraction can be used to establish the structure of low atomic number materials like proteins and surfactants much more easily with lower flux than at a synchrotron radiation source. This is because some low atomic number materials have a higher cross section for neutron interaction than higher atomic weight materials.
One major advantage of neutron diffraction over X-ray diffraction is that the latter is rather insensitive to the presence of
The neutron scattering lengths bH = −3.7406(11) fm [10] and bD = 6.671(4) fm,[10] for H and D respectively, have opposite sign, which allows the technique to distinguish them. In fact there is a particular isotope ratio for which the contribution of the element would cancel, this is called null-scattering.
It is undesirable to work with the relatively high concentration of H in a sample. The scattering intensity by H-nuclei has a large inelastic component, which creates a large continuous background that is more or less independent of scattering angle. The elastic pattern typically consists of sharp
History
The first neutron diffraction experiments were carried out in 1945 by
See also
- Crystallography
- Crystallographic database
- Electron diffraction
- Grazing incidence diffraction
- Inelastic neutron scattering
- X-ray diffraction computed tomography
References
- ^ IAEA, 2003
- S2CID 249056691.
- ^
- ISBN 0-306-11030-X
- ISBN 0-19-850091-2
- ISSN 0031-899X.
- ^
- ISSN 0034-6861.
Further reading
- Lovesey, S. W. (1984). Theory of Neutron Scattering from Condensed Matter; Volume 1: Neutron Scattering. Oxford: ISBN 0-19-852015-8.
- Lovesey, S. W. (1984). Theory of Neutron Scattering from Condensed Matter; Volume 2: Condensed Matter. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-852017-4.
- Squires, G.L. (1996). Introduction to the Theory of Thermal Neutron Scattering (2nd ed.). Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Inc. ISBN 0-486-69447-X.
- Young, R.A., ed. (1993). The Rietveld Method. Oxford: Oxford University Press & International Union of Crystallography. ISBN 0-19-855577-6.
External links
- National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research
- From Bragg’s law to neutron diffraction
- Integrated Infrastructure Initiative for Neutron Scattering and Muon Spectroscopy (NMI3) - a European consortium of 18 partner organisations from 12 countries, including all major facilities in the fields of neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy
- Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics of Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR)
- IAEA neutron beam instrument database