Download Introduction to Magnetic Neutron Diffraction and Magnetic Structures

Introduction to Magnetic Neutron Diffraction and Magnetic Structures
Juan Rodríguez-Carvajal
Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France
E-mail: [email protected]
The determination of magnetic structures of crystalline materials using neutron diffraction is one
of the major specific applications of the use of neutrons for studying the properties of condensed
matter. The knowledge of the magnetic ordering in materials provides important clues for
understanding their electronic structure and therefore the understanding of their properties. In
spite of advances in magnetic scattering of X-rays in synchrotrons, the use of neutron powder
diffraction is, and will be in the future, the most straightforward technique for determining
magnetic structures. For determining fine details of the magnetic ordering, single crystals and
polarized neutrons are needed in many cases at the price of a higher complexity in the data
analysis. In the present lecture we introduce the basics of magnetic neutron scattering, how
magnetic structures are commonly described using the formalism of propagation vectors, the
underlying symmetry properties of magnetic structures and how symmetry helps to determine the
magnetic ordering. Finally the protocol for determining and refine magnetic structures, using
neutron powder diffraction, is described shortly.