The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
The short review concentrates on recent work performed at the neutrons in biology laboratories of the Institut Laue Langevin and Institut de Biologie Structurale in Grenoble. Extremophile organisms have been discovered that require extreme conditions of temperature, pressure or solvent environment for survival. The existence of such organisms poses a significant challenge in understanding the physical...
We review recent structural studies that we have undertaken aimed at elucidating the fundamental properties of metal-organic framework materials and their interactions with hydrogen. We have shown that exposing coordinatively unsaturated metal centers can greatly enhance the hydrogen binding energy and that they result in a significant increase of the surface packing density of adsorbed hydrogen molecules...
Anodization and subsequent cathodic reactions on a thin-film sample of Zr were studied with in-situ neutron reflectometry (NR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The NR results during anodization showed the originally 485 Å thick Zr film generally behaved similar to a bulk electrode in neutral solution. The anodization ratio measured at applied potentials increased in steps of 0.5 V...
Aiming to shed light on the possible existence of hybrid phonon-magnon excitations in multiferroic manganites, neutron scattering measurements have been undertaken at LLB and ILL on the particular case of hexagonal YMnO3. Our experiments focused on a transverse acoustic phonon mode polarized along the ferroelectric axis. The neutron data show that below the magnetic transition, this particular phonon...
We have studied negative thermal expansion (NTE) compounds with chemical compositions of NX2O8 and NX2O7 (N=Zr, Hf and X=W, Mo, V) and M2O (M=Cu, Ag) using the techniques of inelastic neutron scattering and lattice dynamics. There is a large variation in the negative thermal expansion coefficients of these compounds. The inelastic neutron scattering experiments have been carried out using polycrystalline...
Design and development of neutron detectors and R&D work in neutron radiography (NR) for non-destructive evaluation are important parts of the neutron beam and allied research programme of Solid State Physics Division (SSPD) of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The detectors fabricated in the division not only meet the in-house requirement of neutron spectrometers but also the need of other...
Starting from the standard model of polymer motion — the Rouse model — we briefly present some key experimental results on the mesoscopic dynamics of polymer systems. We touch the role of topological confinement as expressed in the reptation model and discuss in some more detail processes limiting the confinement. In the second part we relate to some new developments concerning the measurement of...
The dynamics of liquid water is evaluated by the coherent quasi-elastic scattering at two different momentum transfers, in order to discriminate hydrogen bond lifetime from molecular dynamics. The results indicate a possible issue for the puzzle of the behaviour of supercooled water.
Multiferroic materials are the materials that show several cooperative ordering phenomena simultaneously. Here we consider only those materials that show both antiferromagnetism and ferroelectricity and in which the ordering parameters are coupled to each other. I shall review our recent neutron scattering investigations on multiferroic hexagonal manganites YMnO3. We have determined the spin wave...
Different types of neutron scattering experiment for the study of condensed matter properties pose specific and often contradictory requirements for detector characteristics. There is no single type of detector which satisfies all the criteria. Therefore, compromise is inevitable and some of the characteristics are trade off in favour of others. Present report gives an overview of detector systems...
Molecular dynamics in restricted geometries is known to exhibit anomalous behaviour. Diffusion, translational or rotational, of molecules is altered significantly on confinement in restricted geometries. Quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) offers a unique possibility of studying molecular motion in such systems. Both time scales involved in the motion and the geometry of motion can be studied using...
Multipole interactions are known to play a central role in the unconventional properties of light rare-earth hexaborides and especially of CeB6. Substituting Pr at the Ce sites has the effect of enhancing exchange interactions and changing the symmetry of the local 4f charge distribution, while suppressing the octupole moment. The (T, H) magnetic phase diagrams of the CexPr1 − xB6 compounds display...
The curious dual nature of the neutron, sometimes a particle, sometimes a wave, is wonderfully manifested in the various non-local interference and quantum contextuality effects observed in neutron interferometry. Non-classical states may become useful for novel fundamental and solid state research. Here we discuss unavoidable quantum losses as they appear in neutron phase-echo and spin rotation experiments...
Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been used to study the structural evolution of different phases in protein solution leading to crystallization, denaturation and gelation. The protein solution under crystallization mostly consists of monomers and dimers, and higher-mers are not observed as they are perhaps formed in very small numbers. The onset and the rate of crystallization strongly depend...
A polarized neutron reflectometer for vertical samples is available at Dhruva reactor guide hall, Trombay. The reflectometer has been designed for horizontal scattering vector. It uses a position-sensitive detector for obtaining the reflectivity pattern. This arrangement allows one to obtain diffuse or off-specular intensity around any specular peak at one go. We have used this instrument for studying...
To make headway on any problem in physics, high-quality single crystals are required. In this talk, special emphasis will be placed on the crystal growth of various oxides (superconductors and magnetic materials), borides and carbides using the image furnaces at Warwick. The floating zone method of crystal growth used in these furnaces produces crystals of superior quality, circumventing many of the...
The role that model compounds can play in understanding the vibrational eigenvectors of molecules is discussed. Assigning the spectra of model compounds is of particular importance and the individual-scaling approach, that has been used with isolated molecule ab-initio calculations, is outlined. Special emphasis is given to recent work on assigning the spectra of three 5–6 heterobicyclic systems;...
Single crystal diffuse scattering provides one of the most powerful probes of short-range correlations on the 1–100 nm scale, which often are responsible for the extreme field response of many emerging phenomena of great interest. Accurate modeling of such complex disorder from diffuse scattering data however puts stringent experimental demands, requiring measurements over large volumes of reciprocal...
Using small angle neutron scattering we have been able to observe for the first time a well-defined vortex lattice (VL) structure both in the hole-doped LSCO and electron-doped NCCO superconductors. Our measurements on optimally doped LSCO reveal the existence of a magnetic field-induced phase transition from a hexagonal to a square coordination of the VL. Various scenarios to explain such phase transition...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.