Journal of Applied Crystallography

Volume 41, Part 5 (October 2008)

research papers

J. Appl. Cryst. (2008). 41, 868-885 [ doi:10.1107/S0021889808026770 ]

Analysis of spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering measurements

R. Andersson, L. F. van Heijkamp, I. M. de Schepper and W. G. Bouwman

Abstract: Spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering (SESANS) is, in contrast to conventional small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), a real-space technique. SESANS measures the projection of the density-density correlation function of a sample, rather than, as in SANS, its Fourier transform. This paper introduces a toolkit for interpretion and analysis of a SESANS measurement. Models that are used in SANS are discussed and translated into a SESANS formalism. These models can be used to analyse and fit the data obtained by SESANS. Dilute, concentrated, random, fractal and anisotropic density distributions are considered. Numerical methods used to calculate the projection from numerical data are presented, either by using Fourier transformation or via the real-space pair correlation function.

Keywords: spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering (SESANS); data analysis.