Fundamentals of Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy

Abstract

The energy resolution in conventional inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy allows us to explore the behavior of condensed matter essentially on the time scale of thermal atomic vibrations. The neutron spin echo approach, by its unique feature of making resolution and beam monochromatization independent from each other, enables us to enhance the energy resolutions, i.e. to expand the accessible time domain by 3–4 orders of magnitude. This opened up a whole new field for the investigation of processes on a mesoscopic time scale between microscopic collision times and macroscopic dynamics. This introductory paper reviews the basic experimental concepts of neutron spin echo spectroscopy and its particular role in inelastic neutron scattering.