Magnetic properties of nano-scale hematite, α-Fe2O3, studied by time-of-flight inelastic neutron spectroscopy.

Samples of nanoscale hematite, α-Fe2O3, with different surface geometries and properties have been studied with inelastic time-of-flight neutron scattering. The 15 nm diameter nanoparticles previously shown to have two collective magnetic excitation modes in separate triple-axis neutron scattering studies have been studied in further detail using the advantage of a large detector area, high resolution, and large energy transfer range of the IN5 TOF spectrometer. A mesoporous hematite sample has also been studied, showing similarities to that of the nanoparticle sample and bulk α-Fe2O3. Analysis of these modes provides temperature dependence of the magnetic anisotropy coefficient along the c-axis, κ1. This is shown to remain negative throughout the temperature range studied in both samples, providing an explanation for the previously observed suppression of the Morin transition in the mesoporous material. The values of this anisotropy coefficient are found to lie between those of bulk and nano-particulate samples, showing the hybrid nature of the mesoporous 3-dimensional structure.

Simulation of a suite of generic long-pulse neutron instruments to optimize the time structure of the European Spallation Source.

We here describe the result of simulations of 15 generic neutron instruments for the long-pulsed European Spallation Source. All instruments have been simulated for 20 different settings of the source time structure, corresponding to pulse lengths between 1 ms and 2 ms; and repetition frequencies between 10 Hz and 25 Hz. The relative change in performance with time structure is given for each instrument, and an unweighted average is calculated. The performance of the instrument suite is proportional to (a) the peak flux and (b) the duty cycle to a power of approximately 0.3. This information is an important input to determining the best accelerator parameters. In addition, we find that in our simple guide systems, most neutrons reaching the sample originate from the central 3-5 cm of the moderator. This result can be used as an input in later optimization of the moderator design. We discuss the relevance and validity of defining a single figure-of-merit for a full facility and compare with evaluations of the individual instrument classes.