Neutron Spin-Echo Instrumentation for Magnetic Scattering

Abstract

Neutron spin-echo (NSE) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the study of magnon lifetimes and magnetic critical dynamics. The unique property of NSE is the energy resolution in the (Formula presented.) range. The first NSE spectrometers were optimized for quasielastic scattering at small momentum transfers and delivered substantial contributions to the understanding of critical dynamics in ferromagnets and dynamic correlations in spin glasses. The subsequent resonant NSE (NRSE) technique extends the parameter range toward large momentum and energy transfers and permits to measure magnon lifetimes across the Brillouin zone. NRSE also comprises the Larmor diffraction (LD) mode with a resolution for lattice spacings and their variance (Formula presented.) of order (Formula presented.). LD proves useful to determine magnetostriction effects, small lattice distortions related to magnetic ordering, mosaic spread in crystals, and the size distribution of antiferromagnetic domains. Both typical experiments and the related technical innovation are reviewed and an outlook on future developments is given.