Physics:Neutron resonance spin echo

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Short description: Quasielastic neutron scattering technique

Neutron resonance spin echo is a quasielastic neutron scattering technique developed by Gähler and Golub. In its classic form it is used analogously to conventional neutron spin echo (NSE) spectrometry for quasielastic scattering where tiny energy changes from the sample to the neutron have to be resolved. In contrast to NSE, the large magnetic solenoids are replaced by two resonant flippers respectively. This allows for variants in combination with triple axes spectrometers to resolve narrow linewidth of excitations or MIEZE (Modulation of IntEnsity with Zero Effort) for depolarizing conditions and incoherent scattering which are not possible with conventional NSE.

Neutron spin echo techniques achieve very high energy resolution in combination with very high neutron intensity by means of a decoupling of the energy resolution of the instrument from the wavelength spread of the neutrons. The energy transfer of the neutrons is encoded in their polarization and not in the change of the wavelength of the scattered neutrons. The final neutron polarization provides the (normalized) intermediate scattering function S(Q,τ), providing direct information on relaxation processes, activation energies, and the amplitudes of dynamic processes in the samples under investigation.

How it works

The classical NSE technique (Figure 1. a)), relies upon the Lamor precession the neutron spin undergoes, while flying through static magnetic fields. Several other NSE schemes exist however, which employ resonant spin flips in a magnetic RF-field to achieve the same effect on the neutron, such as neutron resonant spin echo (NRSE) and modulation of intensity by zero effort (MIEZE).[1][2][3]

In NRSE, the static magnetic fields produced by large DC coils in NSE are replaced by two resonant flipper coils, producing a static magnetic field B0 and a thereto perpendicular radio frequency (RF) field of frequency ωRF (Figure 1. b).[4][5]

A neutron entering the first resonant flipper undergoes a resonant π-flip induced by the static field B0 while precessing with a frequency ωL (the Lamor frequency) equal to ωRF and performing Rabi – oscillations due to the RF field. In classical NRSE the path between the two flippers is kept free of any magnetic field and the spin phase is not changed. In the second resonant flipper coil the neutron undergoes another resonant π-flip. The effect these two flippers have on the neutron spin is identical to the action of an effective static magnetic field as utilized in NSE.[1][6][7]

Longitudinal resonance spin echo

The original NRSE setup was designed in a transverse configuration (T-NRSE, Figure 1. b)) where the field B0 lies transverse to the spin direction. In this form the energy resolution of the setup is limited by the production accuracy of the B0 coils to a few nanoseconds. The space between the transverse NRSE coils needs to be free of field, and is therefore shielded by a mu-metal housing.[8] The drawbacks mentioned above lead to the development of the longitudinal NRSE (L-NRSE, Figure 1. d)) design to combine the advantages of both classical NSE and T-NRSE.[9][10] In contrast to the conventional transverse NRSE technique, the cylindrically symmetric longitudinal NRSE configuration allows the use of guide fields through the whole spectrometer, reducing the effort to maintain the neutron polarization. This makes the mu-metal shielding required for transverse NRSE obsolete and facilitates maintaining the polarization of neutrons with large wavelengths λ. These neutrons are particularly important for NSE techniques, as their resolution increases with λ3.[11] Using a longitudinal field geometry, no field corrections are required for a non-divergent neutron beam while the corrections for divergent neutron trajectories are at least a factor of 10 smaller as compared to conventional NSE.

In combination with TAS

The RF flipper coils utilized in NRSE are much smaller than the DC coils used in classical NSE, leading to a large reduction in stray fields around the coils. This makes it possible to tilt the RF flipper coils and perform NRSE in a triple axis spectrometer configuration. The tilting of the coils, makes spin-echo focusing possible, where the entire energy dispersion of an excitation can be measured with very high resolution (as low as 1 µeV) over the entire Brillouin zone. Therefore, this technique allows the investigation of linewidths of dispersing excitations, including both phonons and magnons, over the entire Brillouin zone.[12][13][14][15]

MIEZE

One disadvantage of classical NSE and NRSE is the fact that a depolarization of the neutron beam leads to a complete loss of signal, making it impossible to measure under depolarizing conditions, such as very large magnetic fields. Furthermore, it is not possible to measure samples that cause a depolarization of the neutron beam, such as ferromagnets, and superconductors. Due to the dominating amount of incoherent scattering, materials containing large amounts of hydrogen are also difficult to measure using conventional NSE as well as NRSE. To circumvent these drawbacks the MIEZE (Modulation of IntEnsity with Zero Effort) method was introduced in transverse as well as longitudinal configuration (Figure 1. c) and e)).

In MIEZE configuration the first two RF spin flippers are operated at different frequencies (as opposed to traditional NRSE where they operate at the same frequency), leading to a sinusoidal time modulation of the measured signal, which is detected by a time and position sensitive detector.[16][4][17][18][19] This setup allows to place all spin manipulating devices (including the analyser) upstream of the sample, making it possible to measure (depolarizing) samples under depolarizing condition.[20][11] Following the same nomenclature as NRSE transverse MIEZE refers to a configuration where the field B0 lies transverse to the neutron beam, while for longitudinal MIEZE the field B0 points along the neutron beam.

Dedicated instruments

The list below provides an extensive list of neutron spin echo instruments in used (or in planning) at the moment. Most of these instruments are operated at continuous neutron sources using cold neutrons. Very few instruments are used under different conditions which are indicated below.

NSE

NRSE

MIEZE

Triple axis spectrometer – NRSE

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gähler, R.; Golub, R. (Sep 1987). "A high resolution neutron spectrometer for quasielastic scattering on the basis of spin-echo and magnetic resonance" (in en). Zeitschrift für Physik B 65 (3): 269–273. doi:10.1007/bf01303712. ISSN 0722-3277. Bibcode: 1987ZPhyB..65..269G. 
  2. ↑ Golub, R.; Gähler, R. (Jul 1987). "A neutron resonance spin echo spectrometer for quasi-elastic and inelastic scattering". Physics Letters A 123 (1): 43–48. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(87)90760-2. ISSN 0375-9601. Bibcode: 1987PhLA..123...43G. 
  3. ↑ Schmidt, C. J.; Groitl, F.; Klein, M.; Schmidt, U.; Häussler, W. (2010). "CASCADE with NRSE: Fast Intensity Modulation Techniques used in Quasielastic Neutron Scattering" (in en). Journal of Physics: Conference Series 251 (1): 012067. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/251/1/012067. ISSN 1742-6596. Bibcode: 2010JPhCS.251a2067S. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gähler, R.; Golub, R.; Keller, T. (Jun 1992). "Neutron resonance spin echo—a new tool for high resolution spectroscopy". Physica B: Condensed Matter 180-181: 899–902. doi:10.1016/0921-4526(92)90503-k. ISSN 0921-4526. Bibcode: 1992PhyB..180..899G. 
  5. ↑ Häussler, W.; Böni, P.; Klein, M.; Schmidt, C. J.; Schmidt, U.; Groitl, F.; Kindervater, J. (Apr 2011). "Detection of high frequency intensity oscillations at RESEDA using the CASCADE detector" (in en). Review of Scientific Instruments 82 (4): 045101–045101–6. doi:10.1063/1.3571300. ISSN 0034-6748. PMID 21529033. Bibcode: 2011RScI...82d5101H. 
  6. ↑ Häussler, Wolfgang; Schmidt, Ulrich (2005). "Effective field integral subtraction by the combination of spin echo and resonance spin echo". Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 7 (6): 1245–1249. doi:10.1039/b419281h. PMID 19791340. Bibcode: 2005PCCP....7.1245H. 
  7. ↑ Schwink, Ch.; Schärpf, O. (September 1975). "Solution of the Pauli-equation for neutrons in varying magnetic fields and its application to reflection and transmission at helical magnetic structures". Zeitschrift für Physik B 21 (3): 305–311. doi:10.1007/BF01313312. Bibcode: 1975ZPhyB..21..305S. 
  8. ↑ Kindervater, J.; Martin, N.; Häußler, W.; Krautloher, M.; Fuchs, C.; Mühlbauer, S.; Lim, J.A.; Blackburn, E. et al. (23 January 2015). "Neutron spin echo spectroscopy under 17 T magnetic field at RESEDA". EPJ Web of Conferences 83: 03008. doi:10.1051/epjconf/20158303008. Bibcode: 2015EPJWC..8303008K. 
  9. ↑ Häussler, Wolfgang; Schmidt, Ulrich; Ehlers, Georg; Mezei, Ferenc (August 2003). "Neutron resonance spin echo using spin echo correction coils". Chemical Physics 292 (2–3): 501–510. doi:10.1016/S0301-0104(03)00119-8. Bibcode: 2003CP....292..501H. 
  10. ↑ Häussler, W; Schmidt, U; Dubbers, D (July 2004). "Increased solid angle in neutron resonance spin echo". Physica B: Condensed Matter 350 (1–3): E799–E802. doi:10.1016/j.physb.2004.03.208. Bibcode: 2004PhyB..350E.799H. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Georgii, R.; Kindervater, J.; Pfleiderer, C.; Böni, P. (November 2016). "RESPECT: Neutron resonance spin-echo spectrometer for extreme studies". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 837: 123–135. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2016.08.004. Bibcode: 2016NIMPA.837..123G. 
  12. ↑ Pynn, R (November 1978). "Neutron spin-echo and three-axis spectrometers". Journal of Physics E: Scientific Instruments 11 (11): 1133–1140. doi:10.1088/0022-3735/11/11/015. Bibcode: 1978JPhE...11.1133P. 
  13. ↑ Keller, T.; Habicht, K.; Klann, H.; Ohl, M.; Schneider, H.; Keimer, B. (1 December 2002). "The NRSE-TAS spectrometer at the FRM-2". Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing 74: s332–s335. doi:10.1007/s003390201612. Bibcode: 2002ApPhA..74S.332K. 
  14. ↑ Keller, T.; Keimer, B.; Habicht, K.; Golub, R.; Mezei, F. (2002). "Neutron Resonance Spin Echo — Triple Axis Spectrometry (NRSE-TAS)" (in en). Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy. Lecture Notes in Physics. 601. pp. 74–86. doi:10.1007/3-540-45823-9_8. ISBN 978-3-540-44293-6. 
  15. ↑ Groitl, F.; Keller, T.; Quintero-Castro, D. L.; Habicht, K. (February 2015). "Neutron resonance spin-echo upgrade at the three-axis spectrometer FLEXX". Review of Scientific Instruments 86 (2): 025110. doi:10.1063/1.4908167. PMID 25725891. Bibcode: 2015RScI...86b5110G. 
  16. ↑ Besenböck, W.; Gähler, R.; Hank, P.; Kahn, R.; Köppe, M.; De Novion, C. -H.; Petry, W.; Wuttke, J. (1 April 1998). "First scattering experiment on MIEZE: A fourier transform time-of-flight spectrometer using resonance coils". Journal of Neutron Research 7 (1): 65–74. doi:10.1080/10238169808200231. 
  17. ↑ Hank, P.; Besenböck, W.; Gähler, R.; Köppe, M. (June 1997). "Zero-field neutron spin echo techniques for incoherent scattering". Physica B: Condensed Matter 234-236: 1130–1132. doi:10.1016/S0921-4526(97)89269-1. Bibcode: 1997PhyB..234.1130H. 
  18. ↑ Häussler, W.; Böni, P.; Klein, M.; Schmidt, C. J.; Schmidt, U.; Groitl, F.; Kindervater, J. (April 2011). "Detection of high frequency intensity oscillations at RESEDA using the CASCADE detector". Review of Scientific Instruments 82 (4): 045101–045101–6. doi:10.1063/1.3571300. PMID 21529033. Bibcode: 2011RScI...82d5101H. 
  19. ↑ Schmidt, C J; Groitl, F; Klein, M; Schmidt, U; Häussler, W (1 November 2010). "CASCADE with NRSE: Fast Intensity Modulation Techniques used in Quasielastic Neutron Scattering". Journal of Physics: Conference Series 251 (1): 012067. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/251/1/012067. Bibcode: 2010JPhCS.251a2067S. 
  20. ↑ Krautloher, Maximilian; Kindervater, Jonas; Keller, Thomas; Häußler, Wolfgang (December 2016). "Neutron resonance spin echo with longitudinal DC fields". Review of Scientific Instruments 87 (12): 125110. doi:10.1063/1.4972395. PMID 28040941. Bibcode: 2016RScI...87l5110K. 



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