Special CPM Seminar

Probing matter with neutrons

Sebastian Busch

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum

Neutrons and positrons offer unique possibilities to characterize the structure and dynamics of materials on length scales from less than an Angstrom to hundreds of nanometres and time scales from less than a picosecond to hundreds of nanoseconds. In this talk, I will introduce some experiments which make use of these probes with a focus on the possibilities at the neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (MLZ) near Munich, Germany, one of the most modern facilities of this kind worldwide. After covering the basic concepts, I will show several examples, mainly from the fields of soft and biological matter as well as engineering materials. With this, I hope to illustrate the diverse areas of research where neutrons and positrons can be applied.