Alike materials in the solid state, the phase diagram of type-II superconductors exhibit crystalline, amorphous, liquid and spatially inhomogeneous phases. The multitude of different phases of vortex matter has thence proven to act as almost ideal model system for the study of both the underlying properties of superconductivity but also of general phenomena such as domain nucleation and morphology. Here we show how neutron grating interferometry yields detailed information on the vortex lattice and its domain structure in the intermediate mixed state of a type-II niobium superconductor. In particular, we identify the nucleation regions, how the intermediate mixed state expands, and where it finally evolves into the Shubnikov phase. Moreover, we complement the results obtained from neutron grating interferometry by small-angle neutron scattering that confirm the spatially resolved morphology found in the intermediate mixed state, and very small-angle neutron scattering that confirm the domain structure of the vortex lattice.

Dark-field imaging using grating interferometers has been proven to have a high potential for applications in engineering, magnetism, and soft matter and biophysics, as well as in medicine with both neutrons and X-rays. The access to spatially resolved small-angle scattering information in neutron dark-field imaging provides information about structures beyond direct spatial image resolution. The dark-field contrast modality is hence a valuable tool for materials science based on neutron imaging. This is underlined by the success of the method, despite its current limitation to qualitative scattering information.Here it is demonstrated how a wavelength-dispersive approach allows such drawbacks to be overcome by providing quantitative structure size information and hence can introduce novel possibilities and insights for materials science.

Neutron imaging and scattering give data of significantly different nature and traditional methods leave a gap of accessible structure sizes at around 10 micrometers. Only in recent years overlap in the probed size ranges could be achieved by independent application of high resolution scattering and imaging methods, however without providing full structural information when microstructures vary on a macroscopic scale. In this study we show how quantitative neutron dark-field imaging with a novel experimental approach provides both sub-pixel resolution with respect to microscopic correlation lengths and imaging of macroscopic variations of the microstructure. Thus it provides combined information on multiple length scales. A dispersion of micrometer sized polystyrene colloids was chosen as a model system to study gravity induced crystallisation of microspheres on a macro scale, including the identification of ordered as well as unordered phases. Our results pave the way to study heterogeneous systems locally in a previously impossible manner.

Here we report on a mathematical description for the neutron dark-field image (DFI) contrast based on the influence of the thickness-dependent beam broadening caused by scattering interactions and multiple refraction in the sample. We conduct radiography experiments to verify that the DFI signal exponentially decays as a function of thickness for both magnetic and nonmagnetic materials. Here we introduce a material-dependent parameter, the so-called linear diffusion coefficient. This allows us to perform a quantitative DFI-computed tomography. Additionally, we conduct correlative small-angle neutron-scattering experiments and validate the mathematical assumption that the angular broadening of the direct beam is proportional to the square root of the number of discrete layers.

neutron radiography; neutron imaging; neutron grating interferometry; neutron dark-field imaging; small-angle neutron scattering; ultra-small-angle neutron scattering AbstractNeutron grating interferometry is an advanced method in neutron imaging that allows the simultaneous recording of the transmission, the differential phase and the darkfield image. Especially the latter has recently received high interest because of its unique contrast mechanism which marks ultra-small-angle neutron scattering within the sample. Hence, in neutron grating interferometry, an imaging contrast is generated by scattering of neutrons off micrometer-sized inhomogeneities. Although the scatterer cannot be resolved it leads to a measurable local decoherence of the beam. Here, a arXiv:1602.08846v1 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci] 29 Feb 2016 2 report is given on the design considerations, principles and applications of a new neutron grating interferometer which has recently been implemented at the ANTARES beamline at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum. Its highly flexible design allows to perform experiments such as directional and quantitative dark-field imaging which provide spatially resolved information on the anisotropy and shape of the microstructure of the sample. A comprehensive overview of the nGI principle is given, followed by theoretical considerations to optimize the setup performance for different applications.Furthermore, an extensive characterization of the setup is presented and its abilities are demonstrated on selected case studies: (i) dark-field imaging for material differentiation, (ii) directional dark-field imaging to mark and quantify micrometer anisotropies within the sample and (iii) quantitative dark-field imaging, providing additional size information on the sample's microstructure by probing its autocorrelation function.