X-Rays, Neutrons and Muons Photons and Particles for Material Characterization

Aiming elementary particles at surfaces and observing the result in order to glean information on the material is an old discipline: spectroscopy using photons has been performed for more than a century. But recently, a number of much more exotic, subatomic particles such as neutrons, muons or x-rays have been generated in modern cyclotrons and synchrotrons, and due to the steadily growing availability of measurement capacitythey have become attractive as alternative ways of probing condensed matter in order to better understand its properties and to correlate material behaviour with its structure. In particular, the combined use of several different types of particles such as x-rays, neutrons and muons yields rich information. This book gives a practical account of how well they complement each other for 21st century materials characterization.

Walter E. Fischer (1939-2008) was the former head of the Department of Condensed Matter Research with Neutrons and Muons (NUM) at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland. He pioneered in establishing the spallation neutron source SINQ at PSI which went into operation in the mid-1990s. Later he foundes a condensed matter theory group to complement the experimental work at the neutron source.

Rudolf Morf studied at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and did his PhD in Theoretical Physics in the field of nucleon scattering. After postdoc positions at the IBM Research Laboratory in R?schlikon and at the Harvard University he worked, from 1981 on, at the Research Laboratory of the Radio Corporation of America in Zurich. Since 1987 he heads the Condensed Matter Theory Group of the Paul Scherrer Institute.