Magnetic Small-Angle Neutron Scattering

Abstract This book provides the first extensive treatment of magnetic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The theoretical background required to compute magnetic SANS cross sections and correlation functions related to long-wavelength magnetization structures is laid out; and these concepts are scrutinized based on the discussion of experimental neutron data. Regarding prior background knowledge, some familiarity with the basic magnetic interactions and phenomena, as well as scattering theory, is desired. The target audience comprises Ph.D. students and researchers working in the field of magnetism and magnetic materials who wish to make efficient use of the magnetic SANS method. Besides revealing the origins of magnetic SANS (Chapter 1), and furnishing the basics of the magnetic SANS technique (Chapter 2), much of the book is devoted to a comprehensive treatment of the continuum theory of micromagnetics (Chapter 3), as it is relevant for the study of the elastic magnetic SANS cross section. Analytical expressions for the magnetization Fourier components allow one to highlight the essential features of magnetic SANS and to analyze experimental data both in reciprocal (Chapter 4) and real space (Chapter 6). Chapter 5 provides an overview of the magnetic SANS of nanoparticles and so-called complex systems (e.g., ferrofluids, magnetic steels, spin glasses, and amorphous magnets). It is this subfield where major progress is expected to be made in the coming years, mainly via the increased use of numerical micromagnetic simulations (Chapter 7), which is a very promising approach for the understanding of the magnetic SANS from systems exhibiting nanoscale spin inhomogeneity.