Diving into Neutron Diffraction: Unveiling Material Structures

Book Abstract

Magnetic materials either in bulk or thin ?lms are ubiquitous in our daily life.Technology based on magnetic materials range from chunk of bulk ferromagnet to thin ?lm spintronics. In solid state bulk materials, information about its magnetic structure together with crystal structure is absolutely necessaryto manipulate them in applications. Neutron diffraction is an important toolto determine atomic magnetic moments and its directions at the lattice sitein the magnetic unit cell. It also investigates the type of magnetic ordering in conventional as well as new exotic materials. Magnetic thin ?lms are engineered materials in which nanometer or sub-nanometer thickness scale ?lms are grown. At such thicknesses nanoscale magnetic properties are fundamentally different than its bulk counterpart. Neutron re?ectometry is a unique toolto investigate nano-magnetism in thin ?lms. Moreover, in multilayer thin ?lms generally used for spintronics, polarized neutron re?ectometry is indispensable characterizing tool which investigates the magnetic properties in different layers and at the interfaces. In this chapter, we will introduce how neutron diffraction and re?ectometry techniques play unique role in the investigation of magnetic structure and magnetic properties of functional bulk and nano-scale thin ?lms.