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Heacock B, Sarenac D, Cory DG, Huber MG, MacLean JPW, Miao H, Wen H, Pushin DA. Neutron sub-micrometre tomography from scattering data. IUCRJ 2020; 7:893-900. [PMID: 32939281 PMCID: PMC7467166 DOI: 10.1107/s2052252520010295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Neutrons are valuable probes for various material samples across many areas of research. Neutron imaging typically has a spatial resolution of larger than 20 µm, whereas neutron scattering is sensitive to smaller features but does not provide a real-space image of the sample. A computed-tomography technique is demonstrated that uses neutron-scattering data to generate an image of a periodic sample with a spatial resolution of ∼300 nm. The achieved resolution is over an order of magnitude smaller than the resolution of other forms of neutron tomography. This method consists of measuring neutron diffraction using a double-crystal diffractometer as a function of sample rotation and then using a phase-retrieval algorithm followed by tomographic reconstruction to generate a map of the sample's scattering-length density. Topological features found in the reconstructions are confirmed with scanning electron micrographs. This technique should be applicable to any sample that generates clear neutron-diffraction patterns, including nanofabricated samples, biological membranes and magnetic materials, such as skyrmion lattices.
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Affiliation(s)
- B. Heacock
- Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
- Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - D. Sarenac
- Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
- Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
| | - D. G. Cory
- Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
- Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L2Y5
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1Z8
| | - M. G. Huber
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA
| | - J. P. W. MacLean
- Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
- Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
| | - H. Miao
- Biophysics and Biochemistry Center, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - H. Wen
- Biophysics and Biochemistry Center, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - D. A. Pushin
- Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
- Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3G1
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