Characterising new planetary materials with neutron diffraction

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Date
2016-11-29
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Abstract
There’s a lot of hydrogen in the outer solar system; locked up with water on the icy Galilean moons of Jupiter, within the small organic molecules that rain down on Saturn’s moons Titan or even in an elusive metallic form within the centers of the gas giants. The intrinsic hydrogen-domination of planetary ices, makes studying these materials with laboratory powder diffraction very challenging. Insights into their crystalline phase behavior and the extraction of a number of thermal and mechanical properties is often only accessible with high-flux synchrotron x-ray diffraction or with neutron diffraction. Here, we will present how both the ECHIDNA and WOMBAT instruments at ACNS have been used to gain insights into new materials that have be found to exist under planetary conditions.
Description
Keywords
X-ray diffraction, Neutron diffraction, Planets, Ice, Satellite atmospheres, ANSTO
Citation
Maynard-Casely, H. E., Brand, H. E. A., Cable, M. L., & Hodyss, R. (2016). Characterising new planetary materials with neutron diffraction. Paper presented at 13th AINSE-ANBUG Neutron Scattering Symposium, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 29-30 November 2016.