Small-angle neutron scattering and the Mössbauer effect in nitrogen austenite

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) in Fe-19%Cr-19%Mn-0.9%N and Fe-18%Cr-10%Mn-16%Ni-0.5%N (wt %) high-nitrogen austenites is investigated. The neutron diffraction patterns and Mössbauer spectra are measured and analyzed. The SANS curves are approximated in the framework of the Guinier and Porod models. The nature of small-angle neutron scattering in nitrogen austenite is explained in terms of microinhomogeneities whose structure depends on the alloying with nickel. The mean size and shape of inhomogeneities are evaluated. The effect of low-temperature annealing of the Fe-19%Cr-19%Mn-0.9%N austenite on small-angle neutron scattering and the parameters of the Mössbauer spectra is analyzed.     

Counterion condensation in ionic micelles as studied by a combined use of SANS and SAXS

We report a combined use of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to the study of counterion condensation in ionic micelles. Small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering measurements have been carried out on two surfactants cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTACl), which are similar but having different counterions. SANS measurements show that CTABr surfactant forms much larger micelles than CTACl. This is explained in terms of higher condensation of Br⁻ counterions than Cl⁻ counterions. SAXS data on these systems suggest that the Br⁻ counterions are condensed around the micelles over smaller thickness than those of Cl⁻ counterions.     

Calculation of the energy density function by the method of steepest descent

We present a unified theory of diatomic molecules which reconciles bound state spectroscopy and atomic scattering theory. The total wave-function is expanded in a complete set of atomic channel states which is entirely equivalent to an expansion in Hund's case (e) electronic-rotational states. An analysis of the coupled radial, that is vibrational, functions places strong constraints on the asymptotic properties of the molecular wave-functions. These are presented in terms of the reactance K and scattering S matrices of atomic scattering theory which offers a uniform treatment for open channels (inelastic scattering and continuum spectroscopy), closed channels (bound state spectroscopy) and mixtures of both (predissociation). The normalization of the total wavefunction is derived and related to the asymptotic boundary conditions both for continuum and bound states.     

SANS response of VVER440-type weld material after neutron irradiation,post-irradiation annealing and reirradiation

It is well accepted that the reirradiation behaviour of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel after annealing can be different from the original irradiation behaviour. We present the first small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) study of neutron irradiated, annealed and reirradiated VVER440-type RPV weld material. The SANS results are analyzed both in terms of the size distribution of irradiation-induced defect/solute atom clusters and in terms of the ratio of total and nuclear scattering intensity in a saturation magnetic field (A ratio). The measured A ratio is compared with calculations performed on the basis of the cluster composition reported for a similar weld material investigated by means of three-dimensional atom probe field ion microscopy. The observed deviation between both estimates and possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the differences between the materials response to the original irradiation and to reirradiation after annealing. The results indicate that reirradiation-induced clusters are slightly different in their average composition and their formation saturates at a lower volume fraction than in the case of the original irradiation.     

Small angle neutron scattering setup for high pressure measurements at IBR-2

Abstract

The experiments which were carried out showed the possibility of using a titanium-zirconium high pressure cell for small angle neutron scattering. We report on some curves measured by SANS with the help of this setup to illustrate the capabilities of the method.     

High pressure neutron-scattering experiments on phospholipid model biomembranes

Abstract

By use of neutron small-angle scattering (SANS) the structural properties of saturated and unsaturated phosphatidylcholine model biomembrane systems have been investigated in the temperature range from 0°C to 70°C and at pressures up to 3.5 kbar. The effect of chemical constitution of the hydrocarbon chains of the lipids and the effect of cholesterol on the thermotropic and barotropic phase behaviour is discussed.     

Neutron scattering studies of the reentrant spin-glass system PdFeMn

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and inelastic neutron scattering studies were performed on a polycrystalline sample of (Pd_{9 9.65}Fe_0.35)₉₅Mn₅. This system exhibits a sequence of phase transitions from a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic state and then a transition to spin-glass-like behavior near T_SG = 3.0 K. The temperature dependence of the SANS exhibits a peak at T_c = 9.0 K and then a Q-dependent increase at low temperatures. This low temperature behavior contrasts sharply with that observed at low temperatures for a normal ferromagnet. No spin waves were observed within the ferromagnetic phase for the momenta values probed. Instead, a broad (FWHM ～ 5.0 meV) quasielastic distribution which was almost temperature independent was observed. This scattering was interpreted as a measure of the distribution of the magnetic energies of the Mn²⁺ ions.     

A critical consideration of magnetism and composition of (bcc) Cu precipitates in (bcc) Fe

Atom probe and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements were carried out in order to investigate the chemical composition of (bcc) Cu precipitates in a (bcc) Fe matrix. The ratio of nuclear and magnetic integrated intensities (R-value) found by SANS is compared to a theoretical model which is based on the chemical composition obtained from the atom probe data. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations were performed to derive the magnetic moment per atom and the lattice parameters of the Cu alloys modeled in terms of supercells. The calculated and measured R-values agree rather well suggesting that Fe atoms are incorporated in the Cu precipitates up to concentrations of about 50 at.%.     

Continuous spectrum of three-cluster systems

For the example of the ⁵H = ³H + n + n nucleus, the effect of the Pauli exclusion principle on the asymptotic behavior of wave functions for the continuous spectrum of three-cluster systems is studied within a microscopic approach. It is shown that, in the asymptotic limit, the Schrödinger equation for the wave function that describes the relative motion of tritium and two neutrons reduces to the multichannel problem of valence-neutron scattering on the ⁴H subsystem. The single-channel approximation within which the phase shift for neutron scattering on the ⁴H subsystem occurring in the lowest energy state is the only feature that characterizes the continuous spectrum of the ⁵H nucleus is proposed and implemented.     

Failure of the collinear expansion in the calculation of the induced gluon emission

The collinear expansion is demonstrated to fail in the case of the gluon emission from a fast quark produced in eA deep inelastic scattering. In this approximation, the N = 1 rescattering contribution to the gluon spectrum vanishes. It has been shown that the higher-twist approach by X. N. Wang and X. Guo, Nucl. Phys. A 696, 788 (2001) and B. W. Zhang and X. N. Wang, Nucl. Phys. A 720, 429 (2003) based on the collinear expansion is wrong. The nonzero gluon spectrum obtained in those works is a consequence of an unjustified neglect of some important terms in the collinear expansion. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Temperature and concentration dependence of SANS spectra of aqueous solutions of short-chain amphiphiles

The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) of some aqueous solutions of short-chain amphiphiles (glycols, diglycols, diols) has been measured as a function of concentration and temperature. The analysis of the spectra in terms of the Teubner-Strey phenomelogical formula indicates that, on increasing the concentration of the amphiphile, the structure of all these systems evolves in a similar way, i.e. a transition from disordered structures toward correlated aggregates (microstructures). The transition is depressed by increasing the temperature.     

Longitudinal polarization analysis in small-angle neutron scattering

Due to recent progress in the development of ³He spin filters, it has only now become possible to perform routinely longitudinal (one-dimensional) neutron-spin analysis (POLARIS) in small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments. It is the purpose of this article to provide a brief introduction into the technique and to discuss first experimental data. In particular, for the most common scattering geometry where the applied magnetic (guide) field is perpendicular to the incident neutron beam, we write down the equations for the non-spin-flip and spin-flip SANS cross sections of a bulk ferromagnet, and we discuss the various angular anisotropies and asymmetries along with some selected experimental results on an FeCr based soft magnetic nanocrystalline alloy. In particular, we show that the analysis of the spin-flip data allows one to obtain the magnitude-squares of the three vector (Fourier) components of the magnetization.     

Effect of substitution on aniline in inducing growth of anionic micelles

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements were carried out on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles in the presence of three different hydrophobic salts, i.e. aniline hydrochloride,o-toluidine hydrochloride andm-toluidine hydrochloride. All these salts induce a uniaxial growth of micelles to form prolate ellipsoidal structures. A progressive decrease in the surface charge of the micelles was observed with the addition of salts followed by a rapid growth of the micelles. The presence of a methyl substitution at the ortho position of aniline does not alter the growth behavior significantly. However, when the substitution is at meta position micellar growth is favored at lower salt concentration than that is observed for aniline. This can be explained in terms of the difference in the chemical environments of the substituents at the ortho and meta positions.     

Evaluation of anisotropic small-angle neutron scattering data from metastable β-Ti alloy

ABSTRACT

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data from single-crystal metastable β-Ti alloys exhibit an anisotropic character with interparticle interference maxima due to ordering of the dense system of ω particles. For an evaluation of such data, the program NOC (previously used for evaluation of data from dense ordered γ′ precipitate system in single-crystal nickel-based superalloys) was well suited. Nevertheless, an improvement of this evaluation program was necessary in its model-forming part. A further change of the evaluation program concerned the mode in which the size distribution was calculated. This upgrade is presented. The improved NOC program was employed for the evaluation of SANS data of annealed metastable single-crystal β-Ti alloy containing ω particles. 3D fit in reciprocal space was successfully used. A model of ellipsoids did not lead to a better fit than a model of particles with the spherical shape. The microstructural parameters of ω particles were determined.     

Single scattering profile from small-angle scattering data affected by multiple scattering: use of a basis function set

Present work involves extraction of single-scattering profile from small-angle scattering data, affected by multiple scattering, using an existing model-independent algorithm [Mazumder et al., Physica B 241–243, 1222 (1998), Mazumder et al., J. Appl. Crystallogr. 36, 840 (2003)]. It is shown that implementation of the algorithm becomes effective by representing the multiple scattering profiles in terms of a set of basis function whose form of Hankel transformed pair is known analytically. In the present paper, the methodology has been presented by introducing a Gaussian basis set and has been tested for various simulated profiles. The performance of this methodology has also been tested for scattering profiles having complex internal features and moderate statistical noise. Subsequently, the same has been applied for experimental small-angle neutron scattering data.     

A concrete realization of specific heat-phonon spectrum inversion for YBCO

In this Letter, a phonon spectrum of YBCO is obtained from its experimental specific heat data by an exact inversion formula with eliminating divergence parameter [Dai Xianxi, Xu Xinwen and Dai Jiqiong, Proceedings of Beijing International Conference on High T_c Superconductivity, Sept. 4–8 Beijing, China, (1989) 521], [Dai Xianxi, Xu Xinwen and Dai Jiqiong, Phys. Lett. A 147 (1990) 445]. The results are comparable to that from neutron inelastic scattering. Some key points of specific heat-phonon spectrum inversion (SPI) theory as well as a method of asymptotic behavior control are discussed. An improved unique existence theorem is presented. A universal function set for the numerical calculation in SPI is obtained, which will make the inversion method applicable and convenient in practice. This is the first time to realize the specific heat-phonon spectrum inversion in a concrete system.     

Liquid–gas critical phenomena under confinement: small-angle neutron scattering studies of CO2 in aerogel

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a well-established technique for investigating the behavior of confined binary liquid solutions, as it can probe the correlation length and susceptibility in pores on length scales 1 – 100 nm. We applied SANS to explore the influence of confinement on critical behavior of an individual fluid carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a highly porous aerogel. The results demonstrate that quenched disorder induced by aerogel significantly depresses density fluctuations. Despite the negligible volume occupied by aerogel (< 4%), the macroscopic phase separation of confined CO₂ into coexisting liquid and gaseous phases is suppressed and below the critical temperature of the bulk fluid frozen methastable microdomains are formed. Experimental data show that critical adsorption is as important as the effect of confinement in defining the behavior of confined fluids.     

Vortex imaging in Co-doped BaFe2As2

We review superconducting vortex imaging in Co-doped BaFe₂As₂ by Bitter decoration and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). At all measured fields a highly disordered vortex configuration is observed, which is attributed to strong pinning. Further support of this conclusion comes from the absence of a Meissner rim in decoration images obtained close to the sample edge. The evolution of the SANS scattering vector with increasing applied field indicates vortex lattice domains of (distorted) hexagonal symmetry. This is consistent with the decoration images which show small, six fold coordinated ordered vortex domains. The SANS scattered intensity is found to decrease rapidly with increasing field, exceeding the rate expected from estimates of the upper critical field. This is consistent with the large degree of vortex “lattice” disorder.     

Small-angle neutron scattering of nanocrystalline terbium with random paramagnetic susceptibility

We report magnetic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data for the nanocrystalline rare earth metal Terbium in its paramagnetic state. Whereas critical scattering dominates at large momentum transfer, q, the (magnetic-) field response of the scattering at small q arises from the spatial nonuniformity of the paramagnetic susceptibility tensor. The finding of an interrelation between SANS and the susceptibility suggests a way for characterizing the nonuniform magnetic interactions in hard magnets by neutron scattering.     

Vibrations of copper atoms in Pr2CuO4

The method of isotopic contrast in combination with inelastic neutron scattering has been used to investigate the vibrational spectrum of the copper atoms in Pr₂CuO₄. It is shown that the energy positions of the features of the vibrational spectrum of copper in Pr₂CuO₄ and CuO (which also has a planar oxygen coordination of copper) coincide. We conclude that the dynamical behavior of the copper atoms is formed mainly by their interaction with the nearest-neighbor oxygen atoms. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 1149–1153 (July 1999)