Spotlight: Zebra-Striped Structures to Twist Neutrons and Extend Researchers’ Vision

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class="text-with-summary"> <div class="margin-left-4 margin-bottom-2 align-right"> <figure class="nist-image--lightbox nist-image" data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2022/12/07/1.png?itok=y17cGzA6" data-media-id="659181" data-copyright="Stock Photo"> <img src="/web/20230924152104im_/https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/480_x_480_limit/public/images/2022/12/07/1.png?itok=u_NwIMRo" width="479" height="480" alt="Black and white micrograph shows tiny white panels standing parallel to form small squares on a dark background. " loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image"/> <figcaption class="nist-image__caption"> <div data-caption-editable="true" class="nist-image__caption-content"> </div> <div class="nist-image__credit"> <span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span> University of Waterloo </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> <p>What are these microscopic zebra-striped squares, and why did scientists painstakingly arrange more than 6 million of them on a silicon plate just half a centimeter wide?</p> <p>The squares are a type of diffraction grating, which causes waves that travel through to bend as they pass (similar to ocean waves hitting a breakwater). That’s beneficial to neutron scientists, who want to make beams of neutrons more effective at exploring the interiors of objects.</p> <p>Neutrons can penetrate solid objects and reveal internal details that X-rays cannot. While X-rays are absorbed by heavier elements such as the calcium in our bones, neutrons are useful for examining materials that contain the light element hydrogen, which doesn’t stop X-rays but reflects neutrons.</p> <p>However, scanning beams disperse quickly after emerging from the beam’s aperture. That limits what scientists can see. Researchers at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) have been working on a solution, developing an idea that guest scientists from the University of Waterloo recently built.</p> <p>Here’s how it works: A scanning beam of neutrons passes through the small silicon plate. The neutrons fly through the square grating, twisting between the zebra-striped structures. Their movements cause twisting waves to form on either side of the neutrons. 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Spotlight: Zebra-Striped Structures to Twist Neutrons and Extend Researchers’ Vision | NIST