Radiography with polarised neutrons

In this thesis I present a new technique for the spatially resolved investigation of the magnetic properties of bulk samples. Standard one dimensional neutron depolarisation analysis is combined with neutron radiography to a method we call Neutron Depolarisation Imaging (NDI). The experimental setup which was installed at the neutron radiography beam line ANTARES at FRM II consists of a double crystal monochromator, neutron polariser, spin flipper, polarisation analyser and a position sensitive CCD detector. A comprehensive discussion of the requirements for these components is given and the limitations of the method are shown. The maximum spatial resolution which can be achieved with a neutron radiography setup is determined by the collimation of the neutron beam and the distance between sample and detector. Different types of polarisers have been tested and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. A double crystal monochromator and a new type of polariser employing polarising neutron supermirrors based on the principle of an optical periscope were developed and tested during this work. Furthermore, NDI measurements on various samples of the weakly ferromagnetic materials Pd1-xNix and Ni3Al are presented. Neutron depolarisation radiography and tomography measurements were conducted with a spatial resolution as high as 0.3 mm on Pd1-xNix and Ni3Al samples. The feasibility of NDI experiments under hydrostatic pressures up to 10 kbar was shown on a sample of Ni3Al using a modified Cu:Be clamp cell. A decrease of the ordering temperature by 2 K under hydrostatic pressure was determined from the NDI measurements and shows the potential of the method for further high pressure experiments. Additionally a method was developed which in principle allows to obtain the intrinsic dependence of the ordering temperature TC on the ordered moment Ms from NDI measurements on inhomogeneous samples containing regions with different ordering temperatures. This procedure was tested on one Pd1-xNix sample and the results were compared with simulations of the temperature dependence of the neutron beam depolarisation by an inhomogeneous sample. As a result from these simulations a criterion was developed to assess the amount of heterogeneity in a sample from the shape of the temperature dependence of the beam polarisation after transmission of the sample. It is found from simulations that increasing the heterogeneity in the sample leads to a rounding of the signature of the phase transition in the depolarisation data. (orig.)