Neutron intensity modulation and time-focusing with integrated Larmor and resonant frequency techniques

Abstract

The analysis of neutron diffraction experiments often assumes that neutrons are elastically scattered from the sample. However, there is growing evidence that a significant fraction of the detected neutrons is in fact inelastically scattered, especially from soft materials and aqueous samples. Ignoring these inelastic contributions gives rise to inaccurate experimental results. To date, there has been no simple method with broad applicability for inelastic signal separation in neutron diffraction experiments. Here, we present a simple and robust method that we believe could be suited for this purpose. We use two radio frequency resonant spin flippers integrated with a Larmor precession field to modulate the neutron intensity and to encode the inelastic scattering information into the neutron data. All three components contribute to the spin encoding. The Larmor field serves several additional purposes. Its usage facilitates neutron time-focusing, eliminates the need for stringent magnetic shielding, and allows for compact setups. The scheme is robust, simple, and flexible. We believe that, with further improvements, it has the potential of adding inelastic signal discrimination capabilities to many existing diffraction instruments in the future.