Zero- and first-sound damping in NaF observed by inelastic neutron scattering

The frequency and temperature dependence of the damping of transverse acoustic modes with 0.06 ? q/q_max ? 0.25 in NaF was determined by means of inelastic neutron scattering. The results clearly show a transition from the Akhiezer to the Landau-Rumer regime.     

Ferromagnetic in-plane spin fluctuations in NaxCoO2 observed by neutron inelastic scattering

We present neutron scattering spectra taken from a single crystal of Na0.75CoO2, the precursor to a novel cobalt-oxide superconductor. The data contain a prominent inelastic signal at low energies ( approximately 10 meV), which is localized in wave vector about the origin of two-dimensional reciprocal space. The signal is highly dispersive, and decreases in intensity with increasing temperature. We interpret these observations as direct evidence for the existence of ferromagnetic spin fluctuations within the cobalt-oxygen layers.     

Observation of a new excitation in bcc 4He by inelastic neutron scattering

We report neutron-scattering measurements of the phonons in bcc solid 4He. In general, only three acoustic phonon branches should exist in a monatomic cubic crystal. In addition to these phonon branches, we found a new "opticlike" mode along the [110] direction. One possible interpretation of this new mode is in terms of localized excitations unique to a quantum solid.     

Excitation of levels by inelastic neutron scattering

A scintillation spectrometer in ring geometry was used to study the gamma rays accompanying the inelastic scattering of fast neutrons on Na, Mg, Mn, Fe and I. The energies of the gamma rays were in most cases arranged into the cascade decay schemes of excited nuclei. Some of the transitions, which had not yet been described, were also found. These are the lines (2147±21) keV for Mg²⁵, (2135±22) keV, (2750±40) keV, (3040±50) keV and (3200±50) keV for Mn⁵⁵ and a series of other gamma rays emitted during the interaction of fast neutrons with I¹²⁷, which are given in the paper.

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-, Na, Mg, Mn, Fe I. - . , , . (2147±21) keV y Mg²⁵, (2135±22) keV, (2750±40) keV, (3040±50) keV (3200±50) keV y Mn⁵⁵ -, c I¹²⁷, .

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In conclusion the authors thank Z. Janout for contributing to the experimental work, J. Vrzal for the design of some of the apparatus, and F. trba, lecturer at the Faculty of Technical and Nuclear Physics, for help during the measurements. Thanks go to members of the accelerator laboratory staff of the Institute of Nuclear Research J. SchÄferling, J. Filípek and particularly J. Jirou, and to J. Zikmund from the same institute for valuable advice and help in the chemical problems connected with the measurements.     

Crystal field spectroscopy by inelastic neutron scattering

We present a review of inelastic neutron scattering results on very diluted rare earth (RE)-Laves phases. A systematic investigation to study crystal electric fields, experienced by single rare earth ions in a metallic environment, was done on (RE,R)Al₂, with RE=Pr, Nd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm andR=Sc, Y, La. We show the influence of the 4f-ions on the crystal fields as well as the influence of the host lattices. The rare earth atoms in ScAl₂ have been studied for the first time and most of the other alloys, with LaAl₂ and YAl₂ as hosts, have been studied for the first time with magnetic atom concentrations below 1 at% and/or with good resolution for low energy excitations. Furthermore we studied the dynamics of 4f-moments, which are coupled to the conduction electrons by determining the coupling constants. We present a comprehensive set of crystal field parameters and coupling constants from these systematic studies and discuss them qualitatively within the available theoretical models. The influence of magnetic atom concentration on crystal field spectra will be shown in part II.     

Off-diagonal response by means of inelastic x-ray scattering

Off-diagonal elements ?^-1 (q, q + g_h, ω) of the inverse dielectric matrix are shown to be measurable by means of inelastic scattering of X-ray photons from two different modes of the wave field, which is generated within the analyzer of a Laue-case X-ray interferometer at the interference position.     

Phonon modes at the 2H-NbSe2 surface observed by grazing incidence inelastic x-ray scattering

We have determined the dispersion of acoustic and optical surface phonon modes 2H-NbSe2 at the by inelastic x-ray scattering under grazing incidence conditions. Already, at room temperature, an anomaly is observed close to the charge density wave -vector position located at about one-third along the Gamma-M direction of the Brillouin zone. Our results indicate that the anomaly for the surface mode occurs at a lower energy than that measured in bulk sensitive geometry in the same experiment, showing evidence of a modified behavior in the uppermost layers. We demonstrate that inelastic x-ray scattering in grazing incidence conditions provides a unique tool to selectively study either surface or bulk lattice dynamics in a single experiment.     

Phonon eigenvectors in Si determined by inelastic neutron scattering

We have determined the eigenvectors of longitudinal phonons with wavevectors in the direction in Si at 12 K from inelastic neutron scattering intensities. The eigenvectors obtained from different model and quantum-mechanical calculations are at variance. Comparison of experimental and theoretical results shows that of the various theoretical predictions the ones from the bond-charge model are in best agreement with experiment. Internal-strain constants from these models and from experiment are compared.     

d-d excitations in manganites probed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

We report a study of electronic excitations in manganites exhibiting a range of ground states, using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Mn K edge. Excitations with temperature dependent changes correlated with the magnetism were observed as high as 10 eV. By calculating Wannier functions, and finite-q response functions, we associate this dependence with intersite d-d excitations. The calculated dynamical structure factor is found to be similar to the RIXS spectra.     

Resonance inelastic scattering of an x-ray photon by a Ne-like atomic ion

The absolute values and the shape of the double differential cross sections of the resonance inelastic scattering of a linearly polarized x-ray photon in the energy region of the ionization threshold of the deep 1s shell of the Ne atom and the Si⁴⁺ and Ar⁸⁺ neon-like ions are calculated in the nonrelativistic approximation for the wave functions of one-electron states and in the dipole approximation for the scattering probability amplitude. The multiparticle effects of radial relaxation of electronic shells in the field of a deep vacancy and of stabilization of the deep vacancy as a neutral atom transforms to a multiply charged positive ion, as well as the effect of the spin-orbit splitting of the 2p valence shell, are taken into account. The calculation results are predictive in character.     

Hydrodynamic effects in bicontinuous microemulsions measured by inelastic neutron scattering

The dynamical properties of bicontinuous microemulsions have been studied with neutron spin echo spectroscopy around length scales corresponding to the correlation peak q₀. Comparison of samples with different contrasts for neutrons shed light on the two modes dominated either by variation of the oil/water difference or surfactant concentration in the hydrodynamic regime. The results have been compared to theoretical predictions of the relaxation rates of bicontinuous microemulsions by Nonomura and Ohta [M. Nonomura, T. Ohta, J. Chem. Phys. 110, 7516 (1999)]. The influence of modification of the surfactant layer bending constants in the microemulsion by addition of homopolymers (polyethylenepropylene: PEP_X and polyethyleneoxide: PEO_X, X=5 kg/mol), dissolved in the oil phase and water, has been investigated.