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Polarized neutron scattering is a very important analysis technique for studies of magnetism, spintronics, and high-sensitivity measurements, among others, offering invaluable information. Yet, the efficiency of such experiments rely on the performance of the polarizing neutron optics to provide high reflectivity and polarization. Presently, state-of-the-art polarizers like Fe/Si supermirrors are not able to polarize neutrons at low scattering angles in a monochromatic beam or able to polarize neutrons with a variety of wavelengths as for a non-monochromatic beam. To overcome this limitation, it is suggested to use Co/Ti multilayers on Ti substrates owing to their favorable scattering length density characteristics. It is shown that this approach enables a wavelength bandwidth several times larger than achievable with state-of-the-art materials on Si or glass substrates. Consequently, enabling the possibility of polarizing neutrons across an extended wavelength range, including those with very high wavelengths.

The concept of scattering length density tuning for improved polarization is investigated for Fe/11B4CTi multilayers and compared to the commonly used Fe/Si system in polarizing multilayer neutron optics. X-ray and neutron reflectivity, magnetization, and neutron polarization have been measured on such multilayers, highlighting differences from conventional Fe/Si multilayers. The multilayer systems were deposited with 25 {\AA} period thickness, a layer thickness ratio of 0.35 and 20 periods, using ion-assisted DC magnetron sputtering. Replacing Si with 11B4CTi for these multilayers showed an increase in reflectivity due to a reduction in interface width. By tuning the ratio between 11B4C and Ti in the non-magnetic layers, a broad range of scattering length density values was achieved, facilitating scattering length density contrast matching between layers for spin-down neutrons, thereby enhancing polarization. These findings demonstrate the potential of Fe/11B4CTi multilayers as a promising option for polarizing neutron optics and highlight the concept of scattering length density tuning in a large range using 11B4CTi.

The Multi-Blade (MB) Boron-10-based neutron detector is the chosen technology for three instruments at the European Spallation Source (ESS): the two ESS reflectometers, ESTIA and FREIA, and the Test Beam Line. A fourth MB detector has been built, installed and commissioned for the user operation of the reflectometer Amor at PSI (Switzerland). Amor can be considered a downscaled version of the ESS reflectometer ESTIA. They are based on the same Selene guide concept, optimized for performing focusing reflectometry on small samples. The experience gained at Amor is invaluable for the future deployment of the MB detector at the ESS. This manuscript describes the MB detector construction and installation at Amor along with the readout electronics chain based on the VMM3a ASIC. The readout chain deployed at Amor is equivalent of that of the ESS, including the readout master module (RMM), event-formation-units (EFUs), Kafka, FileWriter and live visualisation tools., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures

The utilization of polarized neutrons is of great importance in scientific disciplines spanning materials science, physics, biology, and chemistry. Polarization analysis offers insights into otherwise unattainable sample information such as magnetic domains and structures, protein crystallography, composition, orientation, ion-diffusion mechanisms, and relative location of molecules in multicomponent biological systems. State-of-the-art multilayer polarizing neutron optics have limitations, particularly low specular reflectivity and polarization at higher scattering vectors/angles, and the requirement of high external magnetic fields to saturate the polarizer magnetization. Here, we show that by incorporating 11B4C into Fe/Si multilayers, amorphization and smooth interfaces can be achieved, yielding higher neutron reflectivity, less diffuse scattering and higher polarization. Magnetic coercivity is eliminated, and magnetic saturation can be reached at low external fields (>2 mT). This approach offers prospects for significant improvement in polarizing neutron optics, enabling; nonintrusive positioning of the polarizer, enhanced flux, increased data accuracy, and further polarizing/analyzing methods at neutron scattering facilities.

The Multi-Blade is a Boron-10-based neutron detector designed for neutron reflectometers and developed for the two instruments (Estia and FREIA) planned for the European Spallation Source in Sweden. A reflectometry demonstrator has been installed at the AMOR reflectometer at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI - Switzerland). The setup exploits the Selene guide concept and it can be considered a scaled-down demonstrator of Estia. The results of these tests are discussed. It will be shown how the characteristics of the Multi-Blade detector are features that allow the focusing reflectometry operation mode. Additionally the performance of the Multi-Blade, in terms of rate capability, exceeds current state-of-the-art technology. The improvements with respect to the previous prototypes are also highlighted; from background considerations to the linear and angular uniformity response of the detector., Comment: 32 pages, 28 figures

With dc magnetisation and polarized neutron reflectometry we studied the ferromagnetic response of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$/La$_{2/3}$Ca$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ (YBCO/LCMO) multilayers that are grown with pulsed laser deposition. We found that whereas for certain growth conditions (denoted as A-type) the ferromagnetic moment of the LCMO layer is strongly dependent on the structural details of the YBCO layer on which it is deposited, for others (B-type) the ferromagnetism of LCMO is much more robust. Both kinds of multilayers are of similar structural quality, but electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) studies with a scanning transmission electron microscope reveal an enhanced average Mn oxidation state of +3.5 for the A-type as opposed to the B-type samples for which it is close to the nominal value of +3.33. The related, additional hole doping of the A-type LCMO layers, which likely originates from La and/or Mn vacancies, can explain their fragile ferromagnetic order since it places them close to the boundary of the ferromagnetic order at which even weak perturbations can induce an antiferromagnetic or glassy state. On the other hand, we show that the B-type samples allow one to obtain YBCO/LCMO heterostructures with very thick YBCO layers and, yet, strongly ferromagnetic LCMO layers., Comment: 11 figures

Epitaxial Fe4N thin films grown on lattice-matched LaAlO3 (LAO) substrate using sputtering and molecular beam epitaxy techniques have been studied in this work. Within the sputtering process, films were grown with conventional direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and for the first time, using a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) process. Surface morphology and depth profile reveal that HiPIMS deposited film has the lowest roughness, the highest packing density and the sharpest interface. La from the LAO substrate and Fe from the film interdiffuse and forms an undesired interface spreading to an extent of about 10-20 nm. In the HiPIMS process, layer by layer type growth leads to a globular microstructure which restricts the extent of the interdiffused interface. Such substrate-film interactions and microstructure play a vital role in affecting the electronic hybridization and magnetic properties of Fe4N films. The magnetic moment (Ms) was compared using bulk, element-specific and magnetic depth profiling techniques. We found that Ms was the highest when the thickness of the interdiffused layer was lowest and only be achieved in the HiPIMS grown samples. Presence of small moment at the N site was also evidenced by element-specific x-ray circular dichroism measurement in HiPIMS grown sample. A large variation in the Ms values of Fe4N found in the experimental works carried out so far could be due to such interdiffused layer which is generally not expected to form in otherwise stable oxide substrate. In addition, a consequence of substrate-film interdiffusion and microstructure results in different kinds of different kind of magnetic anisotropies in films grown using different techniques., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Supplementary Material

We have studied the origin of a counter intuitive diffusion behavior of Fe and N atoms in a iron mononitride (FeN) thin film. It was observed that in-spite of a larger atomic size, Fe tend to diffuse more rapidly than smaller N atoms. This only happens in the N-rich region of Fe-N phase diagram, in the N-poor regions, N diffusion coefficient is orders of magnitude larger than Fe. Detailed self-diffusion measurements performed in FeN thin films reveal that the diffusion mechanism of Fe and N is different - Fe atoms diffuse through a complex process, which in addition to a volume diffusion, pre-dominantly controlled by a fast grain boundary diffusion. On the other hand N atoms diffuse through a classical volume-type diffusion process. Observed results have been explained in terms of stronger Fe-N (than Fe-Fe) bonds generally predicted theoretically for mononitride compositions of transition metals., Comment: 7 Pages, 7 Figures

Here we report on a feasibility study aiming to explore the potential of Polarized Neutron Reflectometry (PNR) for detecting the inverse proximity effect in a single superconducting/ferromagnetic bilayer. Experiments, conducted on the V(40nm)/Fe(1nm) S/F bilayer, have shown that experimental spin asymmetry measured at T = 0.5TC is shifted towards higher Q values compared to the curve measured at T = 1.5TC. Such a shift can be described by the appearance in superconducting vanadium of magnetic sub-layer with thickness of 7 nm and magnetization of +0.8 kG., Comment: Changes in the 2nd version: small mistypes are corrected. Manuscript submitted to JETP let. 4 pages, 2 figures

Single phase and strained LuMnO3 thin films are discovered to display co-existing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic orders. A large moment ferromagnetism (approx. 1 muB), which is absent in bulk samples, is shown to display a magnetic moment distribution that is peaked at the highly-strained substrate-film interface. We further show that the strain-induced ferromagnetism and the antiferromagnetic order are coupled via an exchange field, therefore demonstrating strained rare-earth managanite thin films as promising candidate systems for new multifunctional devices., Comment: 19 pages, main text plus supplemental information

Using polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) we have investigated a YBa2Cu3O7(10nm)/La2/3Ca1/3MnO3(9nm)]10 (YBCO/LCMO) superlattice grown by pulsed laser deposition on a La0.3Sr0.7Al0.65Ta0.35O3 (LSAT) substrate. Due to the high structural quality of the superlattice and the substrate, the specular reflectivity signal extends with a high signal-to-background ratio beyond the fourth order superlattice Bragg peak. This allows us to obtain more detailed and reliable information about the magnetic depth profile than in previous PNR studies on similar superlattices that were partially impeded by problems related to the low temperature structural transitions of the SrTiO3 substrates. In agreement with the previous reports, our PNR data reveal a strong magnetic proximity effect showing that the depth profile of the magnetic potential differs significantly from the one of the nuclear potential that is given by the YBCO and LCMO layer thickness. We present fits of the PNR data using different simple block-like models for which either a ferromagnetic moment is induced on the YBCO side of the interfaces or the ferromagnetic order is suppressed on the LCMO side. We show that a good agreement with the PNR data and with the average magnetization as obtained from dc magnetization data can only be obtained with the latter model where a so-called depleted layer with a strongly suppressed ferromagnetic moment develops on the LCMO side of the interfaces. The models with an induced ferromagnetic moment on the YBCO side fail to reproduce the details of the higher order superlattice Bragg peaks and yield a wrong magnitude of the average magnetization. We also show that the PNR data are still consistent with the small, ferromagnetic Cu moment of 0.25muB that was previously identified with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and x-ray resonant magnetic reflectometry measurements on the same superlattice., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

In this work we studied Cu/Co multilayers prepared using dc-magnetron sputtering technique with Ag surfactant. It was found that Ag balances the difference in the surface free energy of Cu and Co and this results in removing the asymmetry in the interface roughness of Cu-on-Co and Co-on-Cu interfaces. As the interfaces become symmetric, we observe a significant enhancement in antiferromagnetic coupling and magneto resistance. Further, a correlation of spin-dependent scattering with the interface roughness is brought by comparing Cu/Co multilayer prepared using different deposition methods. It was found that as interface roughness increases spin-dependent scattering decreases., Comment: 6 Pages, 6 Figs

Using neutron reflectometry and resonant x-ray techniques we studied the magnetic proximity effect (MPE) in superlattices composed of superconducting YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ (YBCO) and ferromagnetic-metallic (FM-M) La$_{0.67}$Ca$_{0.33}$MnO$_{3}$ (LCMO) or ferromagnetic-insulating (FM-I) LaMnO$_{3+\delta}$ (LMO). We find that the MPE strongly depends on the electronic state of the manganite layers, being pronounced for the FM-M LCMO and almost absent for FM-I LMO. We also detail the change of the magnetic depth profile due to the MPE and provide evidence for its intrinsic nature., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Heteroepitaxial superlattices of [YBa2Cu3O7(n)/ La0.67Ca0.33MnO3(m)]x, where n and m are the number of YBCO and LCMO monolayers and x the number of bilayer repetitions, have been grown with pulsed laser deposition on NdGaO3 (110) and Sr0.7La0.3Al0.65Ta0.35O3 (LSAT) (001). These substrates are well lattice matched with YBCO and LCMO and, unlike the commonly used SrTiO3, they do not give rise to complex and uncontrolled strain effects due to structural transitions at low temperature. The growth dynamics and the structure have been studied in-situ with reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and ex-situ with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), x-ray diffraction, and neutron reflectometry. The individual layers are found to be flat and continuous over long lateral distances with sharp and coherent interfaces and with a well-defined thickness of the individual layer. The only visible defects are antiphase boundaries in the YBCO layers that originate from perovskite unit cell height steps at the interfaces with the LCMO layers. We also find that the first YBCO monolayer at the interface with LCMO has an unusual growth dynamics and is lacking the CuO chain layer while the subsequent YBCO layers have the regular Y-123 structure. Accordingly, the CuO2 bilayers at both the LCMO/YBCO and the YBCO/LCMO interfaces are lacking one of their neighboring CuO chain layers and thus half of their hole doping reservoir. Nevertheless, from electric transport measurements on asuperlattice with n=2 we obtain evidence that the interfacial CuO2 bilayers remain conducting and even exhibit the onset of a superconducting transition at very low temperature. Finally, we show from dc magnetization and neutron reflectometry measurements that the LCMO layers are strongly ferromagnetic.

In this work we investigate the process of iron nitride (Fe-N) phase formation using 2 at.% Al or 2 at.% Ti as additives. The samples were prepared with a magnetron sputtering technique using different amount of nitrogen during the deposition process. The nitrogen partial pressure (\pn) was varied between 0-50% (rest Argon) and the targets of pure Fe, [Fe+Ti] and [Fe+Al] were sputtered. The addition of small amount of Ti or Al results in improved soft-magnetic properties when sputtered using \pn $\leq$ 10\p. When \pn is increased to 50\p non-magnetic Fe-N phases are formed. We found that iron mononitride (FeN) phases (N at% $\sim$50) are formed with Al or Ti addition at \pn =50% whereas in absence of such addition \eFeN phases (N\pat$\sim$30) are formed. It was found that the overall nitrogen content can be increased significantly with Al or Ti additions. On the basis of obtained result we propose a mechanism describing formation of Fe-N phases Al and Ti additives., Comment: 9 Pages, 7 Figures

Selene is the attempt to implement a new scheme for high-intensity specular reflectometry. Instead of a highly collimated beam one uses a convergent beam covering a large angular range. The angular resolution is then performed by a position-sensitive detector. Off-specular scattering in this set-up leads to some background, but for screening of wide parameter ranges (e.g. temperature, electric and magnetic fields) the intensity gain of at least one order of magnitude is essential. If necessary, the high precession measurements (even with off-specular components) then are performed with the conventional set-up. The heart of this new set-up is an elliptically focusing guide element of 2\,m length. Though this guide is optimised for the use on the TOF reflectometer Amor at SINQ, it can be used as stand-alone device to check the possible application also for other neutron scattering techniques. The first measurements on AMOR confirmed the general concept and the various operation modes. A draw-back occurred due to problems with the internal alignment of the guide. Nevertheless in the TOF mode a gain factor of 10 was reached, and a factor 25 can be expected for an improved guide., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures

In this work we studied Ag surfactant induced growth of Cu/Co multilayers. The Cu/Co multilayers were deposited using Ag surfactant by ion beam sputtering technique. It was found that Ag surfactant balances the asymmetry between the surface free energy of Cu and Co. As a result, the Co-on-Cu and Cu-on-Co interfaces become sharp and symmetric and thereby improve the thermal stability of the multilayer. On the basis of obtained results, a mechanism leading to symmetric and stable interfaces in Cu/Co multilayers is discussed., Comment: 7 Pages, 7 Figures

We have investigated the magnetic properties of transition metal oxide superlattices with broken inversion symmetry composed of three different antiferromagnetic insulators, [NdMnO3/SrMnO3/LaMnO3]. In the superlattices studied here, we identify the emergence of a relaxor, glassy-like behavior below spin glass temperature, T=36K. Our results offer the possibility to study and utilize magnetically metastable devices confined in nano-scale interfaces.

Fe and N self-diffusion in non-magnetic FeN has been studied using neutron reflectivity. The isotope labelled multilayers, FeN/57Fe:N and Fe:N/Fe:15N were prepared using magnetron sputtering. It was remarkable to observe that N diffusion was slower compared to Fe while the atomic size of Fe is larger compared to N. An attempt has been made to understand the diffusion of Fe and N in non-magnetic Fe:N.

We present x-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and neutron diffraction measurements on the slightly underdoped iron pnictide superconductor Ba(1-x)K(x)Fe2As2, Tc = 32K. Below the magnetic transition temperature Tm = 70K, both techniques show an additional broadening of the nuclear Bragg peaks, suggesting a weak structural phase transition. However, macroscopically the system does not break its tetragonal symmetry down to 15 K. Instead, XRPD patterns at low temperature reveal an increase of the anisotropic microstrain proportionally in all directions. We associate this effect with the electronic phase separation, previously observed in the same material, and with the effect of lattice softening below the magnetic phase transition. We employ density functional theory to evaluate the distribution of atomic positions in the presence of dopant atoms both in the normal and magnetic states, and to quantify the lattice softening, showing that it can account for a major part of the observed increase of the microstrain., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We measure by inelastic neutron scattering the spin excitation spectra as a function of applied magnetic field in the quantum spin-ladder material (C5H12N)2CuBr4. Discrete magnon modes at low fields in the quantum disordered phase and at high fields in the saturated phase contrast sharply with a spinon continuum at intermediate fields characteristic of the Luttinger-liquid phase. By tuning the magnetic field, we drive the fractionalization of magnons into spinons and, in this deconfined regime, observe both commensurate and incommensurate continua., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

Neutron diffraction is used to investigate the field-induced, antiferromagnetically ordered state in the two-leg spin-ladder material (Hpip)2CuBr4. This "classical" phase, a consequence of weak interladder coupling, is nevertheless highly unconventional: its properties are influenced strongly by the spin Luttinger-liquid state of the ladder subunits. We determine directly the order parameter (transverse magnetization), the ordering temperature, the spin structure, and the critical exponents around the transition. We introduce a minimal, microscopic model for the interladder coupling and calculate the quantum fluctuation corrections to the mean-field interaction., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, some changes in presentation

We investigated with synchrotron x-ray diffraction and reflectometry the formation of structural domains in the near-surface region of single crystalline SrTiO3 (001) substrates with Y0.6Pr0.4Ba2Cu3O7 / La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 superlattices grown on top. We find that the antiferrodistortive cubic-to-tetragonal transition, which occurs at T_STO = 104K in the bulk and at a considerably higher temperature of at least 120K in the surface region of SrTiO3, has only a weak influence on the domain formation. The strongest changes occur instead in the vicinitiy of the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition in SrTiO3 around 65K, where pronounced surface facets develop that reach deep (at least several micrometers) into the SrTiO3 substrate. These micrometer-sized facets are anisotropic and tilted with respect to one another by up to 0.5deg along the shorter direction. Finally, we find that a third structural transition below 30K gives rise to significant changes in the spread of the c-axis parameters. Overall, our data provide evidence for a strong mutual interaction between the stuctural properties of the SrTiO3 surface and the multilayer grown on top., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We report the results of a combined muon spin rotation and neutron scattering study on La2-xSrxCuO4 in the vicinity of the so-called 1/8-anomaly. Application of a magnetic field drives the system towards a magnetically ordered spin-density-wave state, which is fully developed at 1/8 doping. The results are discussed in terms of competition between antiferromagnetic and superconducting order parameters., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

The compound BaCuSi2O6 is a quantum magnet with antiferromagnetic dimers of S = 1/2 moments on a quasi-2D square lattice. We have investigated its spin dynamics by inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals with an energy resolution considerably higher than in an earlier study. We observe multiple magnon modes, indicating clearly the presence of magnetically inequivalent dimer sites. This more complex spin Hamiltonian leads to a distinct form of magnon Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) phase with a spatially modulated condensate amplitude., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett

$\mathrm{YBa_2Cu_3O_7/La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3}$ superconducting/ferromagnetic (SC/FM) multilayers have been studied by neutron reflectometry. Evidence for a characteristic difference between the structural and magnetic depth profiles is obtained from the occurrence of a structurally forbidden Bragg peak in the FM state. The comparison with simulated reflectivity curves allows us to identify two possible magnetization profiles: a sizable magnetic moment within the SC layer antiparallel to the one in the FM layer (inverse proximity effect), or a ``dead'' region in the FM layer with zero net magnetic moment. The former scenario is supported by an anomalous SC-induced enhancement of the off-specular reflection, which testifies to a strong mutual interaction of SC and FM order parameters., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRL