Neutron diffraction

Diffraction methods, especially X-ray diffraction, are widely used in materials science. Neutron diffraction is in many ways similar to X-ray diffraction, but is also complementary to the X-ray technique so that in some cases it yields information not accessible using X-rays. Successes of neutron diffraction include the elucidation of the crystal structures of high temperature superconductors and materials that display colossal magnetoresistance, the phase analysis of zirconia engineering ceramics, in depth stress determination in composites, successful determination of the structures of metal hydrides, transition metal polymer complexes and the determination of magnetic structure. A brief description of current studies, using neutron diffraction is given