Industrial and technological applications of neutrons

Owing to the construction of intense neutron sources and to the remarkable progress in acquisition and elaboration equipment, neutron scattering techniques have been employed more and more not only in basic research, but also in technological areas and for the solution of specific industrial problems. This is shown by the saturation of neutron beam time available at the main European sources and by an analysis of the users' distribution. Furthermore, the condensed-matter scientific community uses neutron scattering much more often now as a reference method and as an irreplaceable complement to other already well-established techniques. The aim of this Enrico Fermi course, on which the book is based, is to provide an up-to-date picture of the main results obtained (or obtainable) by means of neutron techniques in applied research. Emphasis is placed on the information and help these techniques can offer in some major areas of condensed-matter physics and materials science and to their possible developments in the near future. The volume is basically organized in topical subjects: for each one a brief introduction to the fundamentals is given, followed by examples of the concrete or potential applications. The first half deals mainly with applications of neutron scattering to materials science (metallurgy, magnetic materials, superconductors), while the second half mainly deals with polymers, micellar fluids, interfaces and liquid crystals