Neutron Scattering Researches on Soft Condensed Matter

Full text: One of the most interesting neutron scattering experiments on soft condensed matter so far done is a study of a single polymer chain conformation in bulk. Theoretically the conformation was predicted by Flory in 1949, but it was experimentally revealed in 1974 using small angle neutron scattering with deuterium labeling. This experiment really showed power of neutron scattering in the research filed of soft condensed matter. Neutron scattering has many characteristic advantages in soft condensed matter researches compared with other methods. One is deuterium labeling and/or contrast matching. This technique is powerful to study the structure of soft matter. Dynamic study in a wide spatial scale is also an advantage of neutron scattering. Hence now extensive studies are done on soft condensed matter including polymers, polymer blends, colloids, gels and surfactants. In this talk we would like to discuss our experimental results on structure and dynamics of soft matter to show the power of neutron scattering. The topics include (i) structure and dynamics of polymer gels, (ii) dynamics of ultra-thin polymer films and (iii) polymer crystallization. (author)