- Inelastic/Quasielastic Neutron Scattering
- Diffraction
- SANS/Reflectometry
- Muon
Requirements on radiation safety training and medical examination for hands-on training
- Participants of the hands-on training must be registered as radiation workers in their institutes or universities.
- Notifications of acceptance of on-site participation will be send in mid September in 2024.
- The instruments for the hands-on training will also be emailed to the participants at the same time.
- The on-site participants will be requested to submit radiation worker registration forms, in which the radiation protection officer in your institute or university will write your latest records of radiation safety training and medical examination for radiation workers, to MLF or JRR-3.
- The deadline of the radiation worker registration form is 30th October 2024.
- Your latest records of radiation safety training and medical examination for radiation workers should NOT be older than the following dates which depend on facilities for the hands-on training.
- Please consult radiation protection office of your institute or university in advance to check those records.If you have any questions regarding the radiation worker registration in JRR-3 and J-PARC MLF, please contact us by email (nm-school[at]cross.or.j )
*Note that if you had the latest medical examinations for radiation workers in April 2024, it will be valid for 6 months for the application to MLF. If you want to use this record for this school, please submit the radiation worker registration form before 6 months have elapsed since the latest medical examination. )
Inelastic/Quasielastic Neutron Scattering
Dynamics study by inelastic neutron scattering
Inelastic neutron scattering is an experimental method that is used to observe micro-vibration (dynamics) of atoms and spins in a material. By observing the difference in energy between the incident and scattered neutrons, the magnitudes, distances, and directions of the forces acting between the atoms or spins in the material can be determined.
In this course, students will learn how to measure collective vibrations of atoms (phonons) or spins (magnons) in a single crystal as a function of momentum and energy by inelastic neutron scattering using the chopper spectrometer 4SEASONS. By analyzing the data, students will learn what kinds of forces act between atoms or spins and how they affect the macroscopic properties.
Study of collective relaxation by neutron spin echo spectroscopy
Neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy provides information of the microscopic dynamics of condensed matter ranging from sub nanoseconds to hundred nanoseconds in nanometer scale.
The NSE method uses the Larmor precession of neutron spin to detect small changes in neutron velocity and has the highest energy resolution of any neutron scattering techniques.
Participants will learn the principle of NSE spectroscopy and what kind of dynamical information can be obtained through a hands-on training of data analysis of a soft matter sample. They will also experience the basic handling of spin polarized neutron beam using iNSE at JRR-3 guide hall.
Proton conduction studied by quasielastic neutron scattering
Quasielastic neutron scattering enables us to observe ion, atomic, and spin dynamics over a wide dynamic range from picoseconds to nanoseconds.
In this course, participants will learn how to prepare and measure samples (Nafion as a proton exchange membrane), and how to analyze data.
Diffraction
Magnetic structure analysis by single-crystal neutron diffraction
Physical properties and functionalities of materials are intrinsically linked to the arrangement of atoms inside the materials. Diffraction methods are frequently used to determine the atomic-scale structure of crystalline materials, and neutron single crystal diffraction is particularly well-suited to the study of materials where the functionality depends on the position of light elements and/or the arrangement of magnetic moments.
In this course, basic lectures about magnetic structure analysis by single-crystal neutron diffraction using BL18 (SENJU) will be given. The training course will include single-crystal diffraction measurement of a MnF2 crystal at low temperature, data processing, and magnetic structure analysis with program JANA.
Magnetic phase transition in single crystal materials
Neutron scattering is a powerful method to identify crystal and magnetic structures, and to measure order parameters of the phase transitions as functions of temperature. To identify the phase transitions, we use triple-axis neutron spectrometers composed of crystalline monochromator and analyzer for choosing incident and outgoing neutron wavelengths, respectively. In the present practical training, you will perform neutron diffraction measurements to reveal magnetic orderings at the HQR spectrometer installed at the beam hole T1-1. Followings are plans in the training course.
- Setup of the spectrometer
- Alignment of single crystalline samples by measuring nuclear scattering peaks.
- Measurement of magnetic scattering as a function of temperature.
- Deducing magnetic ordered structure.
- Presentation of summary of the training.
Crystal and Magnetic Structure Analysis by Powder Neutron Diffraction
High-intensity neutron beams have made it possible to measure small amounts of samples and tiny magnetic moments.
This course introduces basic powder diffraction experimental flow, the process of crystal and magnetic structure analysis, as well as R&D and experimental environment to improve S/N.
Unveiling Material Strength through Neutron Diffraction
Careful analysis of the Bragg peaks in a neutron diffraction pattern can reveal important structural details of a sample material, such as internal stresses, phase conditions, dislocations, and texture. This information is often crucial for engineering applications, and the ability to carry out both ex-situ and in-situ measurements makes neutron diffraction particularly useful in this respect.
In this course, students will learn how to measure, analyze data, and understand phenomena in in-situ neutron diffraction experiments of metallic materials under deformation, as well as residual stress measurement experiments of mechanical parts.
SANS/Reflectometry
Nanostructure analysis using a contrast variation technique
Contrast variation using partial deuteration is a powerful techniques for the nanostructure analysis of composite materials. In this course, students learn how to carry out the contrast variation measurement, and study how to determine nanostructure of composite materials using the measurement.
Neutron reflectivity of multilayered thin film
Neutron reflectometer has been now widely recognized as an indispensable tool to analyze structures of nano materials which have the layered structure in nanoscale. In such layered structures, there are interfaces between different materials where new physical and chemical phenomena are expected to emerge. This is very important for nanotechnology because the phenomena have a close relation to the practical devices and our comfortable daily life. We provide an opportunity to perform a neutron reflectivity measurement of a multilayered thin film that shows the easy to understand typical fine structures in the reflectivity profile using SUIREN (Apparatus for SUrface and Interface investigation with REflection of Neutron).
Muon
Ultra-Slow Muon Spin Spectroscopy
Muons have extensive applications in materials science as spin-polarized quantum beams. Muon spin rotation/relaxation/resonance (μSR) is an experimental method to implant muons into materials for probing local magnetic fields. The muon beams primarily used in μSR experiments, so-called surface muons, are obtained from pion decays at the surface of the production target. The surface muons exhibit near-perfect polarization and monochromaticity. Nevertheless, due to their high energy of 4 MeV, measurements on thin samples using a surface muon beam are challenging. In this regard, low-energy muons are advantageous for measurements with thin-film samples and studies on interfaces inside materials.
The ultra-slow muons (USM) beamline at MLF MUSE provides a low-energy muon beam via laser ionization of thermal muonium in a vacuum. At the U1A experimental area, a muon spin spectrometer is located on a high-voltage platform to control the muon implantation energy from sub-keV to 30 keV. USMs can be selectively implanted on surfaces and interfaces in materials, enabling depth-resolving μSR. Furthermore, the time width of the beam is a few ns, much narrower than that of the pulsed proton beam, so the frequency range of observable dynamics is wide.
In this course, participants will learn the mechanism of USM generation, the transport scheme, and experience USM-μSR with a thin-film sample.
Positive muon spin relaxation (μSR)
When a positive muon stops at an interstitial site within a material, it observes the magnetic fields of its environment and exhibits Larmor spin precession. By measuring the decay positrons emitted from muons, the time-dependent behavior of the muon spin in the material can be investigated. This technique is called positive muon spin relaxation (μSR). μSR provides information on the magnetic properties of a material, including magnetism, superconductivity, and the hydrogen state within the material, as the muon acts as a light hydrogen isotope. In contrast to neutrons, muons are local magnetic probes in real space with a unique time scale, making them powerful tools for probing spin relaxation phenomena.
In this course, students will perform μSR measurements using the spectrometer and receive instruction on data analysis. Introductory lectures on μSR and other muon measurement techniques will also be given as part of the school. To ensure that participants have the most meaningful experience possible, the experiment will be conducted in either S1 or D1, depending on the facility conditions. Almost identical spectrometers are located in these areas.
