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Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 025504 (2008) [4 pages]

Neutron Decoherence Imaging for Visualizing Bulk Magnetic Domain Structures

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C. Grünzweig1, C. David1, O. Bunk1, M. Dierolf1,4, G. Frei1, G. Kühne1, J. Kohlbrecher1, R. Schäfer2, P. Lejcek3, H. M. R. Rønnow4, and F. Pfeiffer1,4,*
1Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
2IFW Dresden, Institute for Metallic Materials, Helmholtzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany
3Institute of Physics, AS CR, CZ-182 21 Praha 8, Czech Republic
4Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015-Lausanne, Switzerland

Received 12 April 2008; published 11 July 2008

Here we introduce a novel neutron imaging method, which is based on the effect that the spatial coherence of the neutron wave front can be changed through small-angle scattering of neutrons at magnetic domain walls in the specimen. We show that the technique can be used to visualize internal bulk magnetic domain structures that are difficult to access by other techniques. The method is transferable to a wide variety of specimens, extendable to three dimensions, and well suited for investigating materials under the influence of external parameters, as, e.g., external magnetic field, temperature, or pressure.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.025504
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.025504
PACS:
61.05.fg, 03.75.Dg, 77.80.Dj

*franz.pfeiffer@psi.ch