The performance characteristics of magnetic nanoparticles toward application, e.g., in medicine and imaging or as sensors, are directly determined by their magnetization relaxation and total magnetic ...moment. In the commonly assumed picture, nanoparticles have a constant overall magnetic moment originating from the magnetization of the single-domain particle core surrounded by a surface region hosting spin disorder. In contrast, this work demonstrates the significant increase of the magnetic moment of ferrite nanoparticles with an applied magnetic field. At low magnetic field, the homogeneously magnetized particle core initially coincides in size with the structurally coherent grain of 12.8(2) nm diameter, indicating a strong coupling between magnetic and structural disorder. Applied magnetic fields gradually polarize the uncorrelated, disordered surface spins, resulting in a magnetic volume more than 20% larger than the structurally coherent core. The intraparticle magnetic disorder energy increases sharply toward the defect-rich surface as established by the field dependence of the magnetization distribution. In consequence, these findings illustrate how the nanoparticle magnetization overcomes structural surface disorder. This new concept of intraparticle magnetization is deployable to other magnetic nanoparticle systems, where the in-depth knowledge of spin disorder and associated magnetic anisotropies are decisive for a rational nanomaterials design.
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The KWS‐1 small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument operated by the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at the research reactor FRM II of the Heinz Maier‐Leibnitz Zentrum in Garching near ...Munich has been recently upgraded. The KWS‐1 instrument was updated, from its active collimation apertures to the detector cabling. Most of the parts of the instrument were installed for the first time, including a broadband polarizer, a large‐cross‐section radio‐frequency spin flipper, a chopper and neutron lenses. A custom‐designed hexapod in the sample position allows heavy loads and precise sample positioning in the beam for conventional SANS experiments as well as for grazing‐incidence SANS under applied magnetic field. With the foreseen in situ polarization analysis the main scientific topic of the instrument tends towards magnetism. The performance of the polarizer and flipper was checked with a polarized 3He cell at the sample position. The results of these checks and a comparison of test measurements on a ferrofluid in a magnetic field with polarized and nonpolarized neutrons are presented.
The GISANS instrument at the HBS Jaksch, Sebastian; Lieutenant, Klaus; Babcock, Earl ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
March 2023, 2023-03-00, Volume:
1048
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This manuscript describes a concept of a grazing incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) instrument for the high brilliance source (HBS). The HBS being a compact pulsed neutron source using ...a moderate energy proton accelerator which allows for very compact moderators and shielding, and flexible pulse repetition rates. Similar to many other instrument concepts for this source, the lowest proposed HBS pulse frequency of 24 Hz with a relatively large detector distance is the optimal choice for the instrument described here in terms of obtained intensity and Q-range (i.e. scattering vector range). Such a configuration has the added advantage of good Q-resolution, which is important when scattering depths need to be resolved well. This is especially the case for GISANS when the incident angle is close to the critical angle of total reflection. The performance obtained from detailed ray-tracing computer simulations predict a high performance instrument that will be comparable to reflectometers and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) instruments at high-flux reactor sources such as the Forschungsreaktor Munich (FRM-2) and others.
We report on the progress of the construction of the thermal time-of-flight spectrometer with polarization analysis TOPAS at the Mayer-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ). The instrument components approach the ...status to be ready for installation. The special feature of the instrument is its capability for wide-angle polarization analysis in the thermal spectral range. Here we describe a novel approach to rotate the neutron spin adiabatically into the X, Y or Z direction of the laboratory frame by combination of permanent magnets aligned as Halbach rings and electrically generated fields. Despite the severe spatial restrictions the design exhibits a very high adiabaticity and interacts only weakly with the coil layout for the analyzing 3He spin filter cell (SFC).
Polarized
3He spin-filters are currently employed on a wide range of neutron instruments at the ILL, primarily for diffraction, reflectometry and fundamental physics. A wide range of recent and ...ongoing improvements are enabling the implementation of this technique for wide-angle polarization analysis for inelastic measurements. These include
•
Progress in metastability-exchange optical pumping (MEOP), resulting in on-beam polarization levels of up to 80%.
•
1st generation “Pastis-1” coils for rotating the neutron polarization at the sample position, allowing for “
XYZ” polarization analysis.
•
2nd generation “Pastis-2” coils with no blind angles in the equatorial plane.
•
Spin-filter cells with glued silicon windows, allowing for wide-angle “banana” cells with very low background scattering.
•
Polarization-preserving capillaries for transferring polarized
3He gas into the cell without manual access.
The development of capillary transfer also allows for a completely new way of working with
3He spin-filters: connecting the cells on the instruments directly to the MEOP filling station several tens of meters away and allowing for quasi-continuous operation.
MARIA (magnetism reflectometer with high incident angle) is a world class vertical sample reflectometer dedicated to the investigation of thin films in the fields of magnetism, soft matter and ...biology. The elliptical vertically focusing guide allows one to measure small samples with a typical size of 1 × 1 cm very efficiently. The double‐bounce polarizer and the in situ pumped 3He SEOP (spin‐exchange optical pumping) neutron spin filter cell for analysing the polarization of the reflected neutron beam can be moved into the beam in seconds. The polarized flux of MARIA amounts to 5 × 107 n (s cm2)−1 at the sample position with a horizontally collimated beam of 3 mrad, a wavelength of λ = 4.5 Å and a wavelength resolution of Δλ/λ = 10%. In the non‐polarized mode a flux of 1.2 × 108 n (s cm2)−1 is achieved in this configuration. MARIA is also capable of grazing‐incidence small‐angle neutron scattering measurements, using a pinhole collimation with two four‐segment slits and an absorber that prevents the focusing of the elliptical guide in the vertical direction.
MARIA is a world class vertical sample reflectometer dedicated to the investigation of thin films in the fields of magnetism, soft matter and biology. With the elliptical vertically focusing guide and a wavelength resolution of Δλ/λ = 10%, the non‐polarized flux at the sample position amounts to 1.2 × 108 n (s cm2)−1. Besides the polarized and non‐polarized reflectivity mode for specular and off‐specular reflectivity measurements, MARIA can also be used to carry out grazing‐incidence small‐angle neutron scattering investigations.
Abstract
Low gradient magnetic holding fields are required for maintaining the polarization of polarized
3
He, as diffusion though non-ideal gradients can cause total relaxation rates much greater ...than the intrinsic total
3
He relaxation rate of a particular
3
He cell in optimal conditions. For neutron scattering applications we often rely on
µ
-metal cavities to provide a degree of shielding from the many other sources of magnetic fields and gradient experienced on a typical neutron instrument. The JCNS utilizes two concepts for such cavities, one based on inexpensive plastic-bonded magnets to provide magnetic flux, and the other based on field coils wound on the sides of the
µ
-metal cavity. 2 different sized of permanent magnet cavities and three different geometries of coil-based cavities have been produced. Both types of boxes will be presented with magnetic design as well as mechanical construction details along with the achieved performance of the constructed devices.
Low gradient magnetic holding fields are required for maintaining the polarization of polarized 3He, as diffusion though non-ideal gradients can cause total relaxation rates much greater than the ...intrinsic total 3He relaxation rate of a particular 3He cell in optimal conditions. For neutron scattering applications we often rely on µ-metal cavities to provide a degree of shielding from the many other sources of magnetic fields and gradient experienced on a typical neutron instrument. The JCNS utilizes two concepts for such cavities, one based on inexpensive plastic-bonded magnets to provide magnetic flux, and the other based on field coils wound on the sides of the µ-metal cavity. 2 different sized of permanent magnet cavities and three different geometries of coil-based cavities have been produced. Both types of boxes will be presented with magnetic design as well as mechanical construction details along with the achieved performance of the constructed devices.
Fully polarized neutron reflectometry and grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering are effective methods to explore magnetic structures on the nm to μm length scales. This paper is an outline ...of how to fully correct for the polarization analysis (PA) inefficiencies of such an instrument and to determine the error contributions of the neutron polarizer and analyzer. This discussion considers the exact case of the polarization analysis instrumentation used on the MARIA neutron reflectometer at the MLZ or for a general polarized neutron scattering instrument using at least one 3He neutron spin filter that has the capability for adiabatic fast passage nuclear magnetic resonance flipping of the 3He polarization. This paper will work to build a conceptual understanding of how the inefficiencies of neutron polarization elements affect measured data in order to stress and encourage the application of PA corrections and to help perform successful measurements. Then, using data from a fully polarized neutron reflectometer test measurement we show how it is possible to recover signals on the order of, or even smaller than, the inefficiencies, or bleed-through, of the neutron polarization devices used.
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