LNS - Scientific Highlights

Nanocellulose is a promising alternative to fossil-derived materials, but its development is hindered by a limited understanding of cellulose–water interactions. Herein, quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) is used to investigate how hydration and temperature affect the localized rotations in cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and the diffusion of mobile water. QENS reveals ...

Fast neutron imaging is a promising technique for visualizing objects containing dense, mixed light-and-heavy-elements materials, such as combustion engines, nuclear fuel assemblies, and fossils, where X-rays and thermal neutrons are ineffectiv. However, the limited efficiency of current detection technologies hinders their widespread adoption. Recoil proton detection ...

To develop durable and high-performance sodium-ion batteries, it is crucial to understand the degradation processes taking place during electrochemical cycling. This study presents the first demonstration of visualizing the effects of electrolyte degradation in sodium-ion batteries, via 2D and 3D neutron imaging thereby visualizing the degradation of the cells. The experiment  ...

Although magnetic frustration in metals provides a promising avenue for novel quantum phenomena, their microscopic interpretation is often challenging. Here, we use the face-centered cubic intermetallic HoInCu₄ as model material to show that Hamiltonians neglecting the charge degree of freedom are appropriate for frustrated metals possessing low density of states at the Fermi surface ...

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) offer a promising solution for indoor energy harvesting. However, fundamental investigations to understand and optimize industrial processes such as roll-to-roll lamination for upscaling remain limited. This study investigates a critical failure mode in the upscaling of OPVs. 

One major challenge ...

Altermagnets are collinear compensated magnets in which the magnetic sublattices are related by rotation rather than translation or inversion. One of the quintessential properties of altermagnets is the presence of split chiral magnon modes. Recently, such modes have been predicted in MnF₂. 

Here, we report inelastic neutron scattering results ...

The pursuit of a unifying theory for non-BCS superconductivity has faced significant challenges. One approach to overcome such challenges is to perform systematic investigations into superconductors containing d-electron metals in order to elucidate their underlying mechanisms. Recently, the Sc₆MTe₂ (M = d-electron metal) family has emerged as a unique series of isostructural compounds exhibiting superconductivity across a range of 3d, 4d, and 5d electron systems. 

In this study, muon spin rotation, neutron diffraction, and magnetization techniques are employed to probe ...

Layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition has become a facile and promising method to fabricate highly efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). However, characterization and optimization of 3D morphology remain a grand challenge for LBL- processed active layers, and their correlation with photovoltaic properties of OSC devices is not clear to date. 

Here, to address this issue, ...

Kagome metals with van Hove singularities near the Fermi level can host intriguing quantum phenomena such as chiral loop currents, electronic nematicity, and unconventional superconductivity. However, to our best knowledge, unconventional magnetic states driven by van Hove singularities–like spin-density waves–have not been observed experimentally in kagome metals. Here, we report ...

There are substantial changes in soil structure in regions where the soil is freezing. Water movements in the freezing soil introduce level changes beyond what can be expected by the expansion of water when it freezes. The impact of frost heave is seasonal damage to our built environment ...

The topological nature of the electronic bands or spin structure has direct manifestation in experimentally measured Hall conductivity. The extra topological (or geometrical) component to the Hall effect (THE) usually emerges due to multi-k structures, which inherently possess a finite static scalar spin chirality (SSC). Generating a THE in a single-k structure necessitates the consideration of the dynamical  origin of SSC, the real material examples of such cases remain scarce to date.

Magnetically intercalated transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) provide a versatile three-dimensional (3D) material platform to explore quantum phenomena and functionalities that emerge from an intricate interplay among magnetism, band structure, and electronic correlations. 

The Airy wave packet is a solution to the potential-free Schrödinger equation that exhibits remarkable properties such as self-acceleration, nondiffraction, and self-healing. Although Airy beams are now routinely realized ....

The anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has emerged as a key indicator of time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) and topological features in electronic band structures. Absent of a magnetic field, the AHE requires spontaneous TRSB but has proven hard to probe due to averaging over domains. The anomalous component of the Hall effect is thus frequently derived from extrapolating the magnetic field dependence of the Hall response. We show ....

Multiband superconductivity arises when multiple electronic bands contribute to the formation of the superconducting state, allowing distinct pairing interactions and gap structures. Here, we present field- and temperature-dependent data  ...

The spiral spin liquid (SSL) is a highly degenerate state characterized by a continuous contour or surface in reciprocal space spanned by a spiral propagation vector. Although the SSL state has been predicted in a number of various theoretical models, very few materials are so far experimentally identified to host such a state. Via combined single-crystal wide-angle and small-angle neutron scattering, we report observation  ...

Superconducting domes, ubiquitous across a variety of quantum materials, are often understood as a window in which pairing is favored, opened by the fluctuations of competing orders. Yet, the understanding of how such a window closes is missing. Here, we show that inelastic neutron scattering ...

Encoding information in antiferromagnetic (AFM) domains is a promising solution for the ever growing demand in magnetic storage capacity. The absence of a macroscopic magnetization avoids crosstalk between different domain states, enabling ultrahigh density spintronics while being detrimental to the domain detection and manipulation. Disentangling these merits and disadvantages seemed so far unattainable. We report evidence ...

Spin moiré superlattices (SMSs) formed by interfacing conventional electronic states with a multi-q magnetic lattice have been proposed as a magnetic analog of crystallographic moiré systems. The electron-minibands created in an SMS are expected to be enriched by the vector-field nature of the magnetic interaction and offer new types of moiré tunability, topological protection, and Berry curvature effects. However, most spin-vortex-hosting systems discovered to date have carrier mean free paths l_mfp significantly shorter than their spin-moiré lattice constant a_spin, inhibiting mini-band-formation. Furthermore ...

Skyrmions are particlelike vortices of magnetization with nontrivial topology, which are usually stabilized by Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI) in noncentrosymmetric bulk materials. Exceptions are centrosymmetric Gd- and Eu-based skyrmion-lattice (SL) hosts with zero DMI, where both the SL stabilization mechanisms and magnetic ground states remain controversial. We address these here by investigating both the static and dynamical spin properties  ...

Energy-efficient, safe, and reliable Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are required for a wide range of applications. The introduction of ultra-thick graphite anodes, desired for high energy densities, meets limitations in internal electrode transport properties, leading to detrimental consequences. Yet, there is a lack of experimental tools capable of providing a complete view of local processes. Here, a multi-modal operando measurement approach is introduced, enabling quantitative spatio-temporal observations of Li concentrations and intercalation phases in ultra-thick graphite electrodes.
Neutron imaging and diffraction concurrently provide ...

The detailed anisotropic dispersion of the low-temperature, low-energy magnetic excitations of the candidate spin-triplet superconductor UTe₂ is revealed using inelastic neutron scattering. The magnetic excitations emerge from the Brillouin zone boundary at the high symmetry Y and T points and disperse along the crystallographic b-axis. In applied magnetic fields ...

Methods to prepare and characterize neutron helical waves carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) were recently demonstrated at small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) facilities. These methods enable access to the neutron orbital degree of freedom which provides new avenues of exploration in fundamental science experiments as well as in material characterization applications. 

However, ....

Additive manufacturing (AM) or “3D printing” of metals, which builds structure layer by layer, has revolutionized the production of intricate 3D designs. Among its techniques, laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) excels in creating metallic parts with intricate designs and high precision. This process can combine different metals into innovative multi-material components with tailored properties, with regards to e.g., strength and thermal conductivity, surpassing the capabilities of single-material designs. However, ....