Large-scale structure investigations via neutron scattering techniques

Abstract

Modern materials science and engineering relies increasingly on detailed knowledge of the microstructure and interactions in soft and hard materials. Contemporary research areas comprise, e.g., biology and the life sciences, porosity, particle sizes as well as complex fluids. At the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) we apply small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) as a major technique for probing structures and interfaces of bulk samples of such substances on length scales ranging between approximately 0.001 um and 1 um using the QUOKKA [1] instrument, whereas the ultra small-angle neutron scattering (USANS) instrument KOOKABURRA [2] advances large scale structure determination of complex systems of interest in the size range of 0.1 um to 10 um. Both techniques provide information on bulk properties with minimum sample preparation, and can be used to analyse material in a non-destructive manner. This presentation will discuss SANS and USANS techniques available at ANSTO for the study of large-scale structures, and present combined SANS/USANS data sets measured on selected samples.