Neutrons, X-rays, and Light: Scattering Methods Applied to Soft Condensed Matter

This book addresses the possibilities provided by scattering techniques in the study of soft matter. It fills the gap between the fundamental scattering processes, which are described by the general theoretical framework of elastic and quasi-elastic interaction of radiation with matter, and state-of-the-art applications to specific soft matter systems. Three probes are discussed in detail: neutrons, X-ray photons, and visible light.

Part 1 of the book is dedicated to the use of general principles for the measurement and analysis of scattered intensity: elementary scattering process, data reduction, general theorems, the concept of reciprocal space, and its link to structural and dynamical information in direct space. In Part 2, methods and techniques are further discussed, including resolution effects, contrast variation, static and dynamic light scattering, quasielastic neutron scattering, and reflectometry and grazing incidence techniques. Part 3 deals with the state of the art of scattering studies of typical soft matter systems (polymers, self-assembled surfactant systems and liquid crystals, microemulsions, colloids, aggregates, biological systems) with dedicated chapters for particle interactions and modeling. Part 4 highlights special applications, from light scattering in turbid media to scattering under external constraints, applications of neutron reflectometry, characterization of relaxation modes by neutron spectroscopy, and industrial applications.

This new edition, written by the lecturers of the Bombannes Summer School, will be most useful as a learning tool for masters and PhD students, postdocs, and young researchers moving into the field. As with the previous edition, it will also be a reference for any scientist working in soft matter, where scattering techniques are ubiquitous, used in both small laboratories and large-scale research facilities.

• Provides an understandable and thorough introduction to the fundamentals of scattering in a way that is accessible for masters and PhD students
• Offers a comprehensive overview of the key scattering techniques associated with neutrons, X-rays, and light
• Includes chapters on the most relevant soft matter systems
• Presents both standard analyses and recent advances in scattering techniques

Peter Lindner worked as a soft-matter scientist at Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble, France for 35 years. He is an expert in small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and has been responsible for the SANS instrument D11 for 25 years. He oversaw the coordination of its user operation and was project leader of instrument upgrades and sample environment development, in particular of SANS experiments under non-equilibrium conditions and online rheology. Among others, his research interests lie in the structure and dynamics of complex fluids, like polymer solutions, colloidal dispersions and lyotropic lamellar phases, which are exposed to external fields, such as shear.

In 1990 he founded, together with Thomas Zemb, the Bombannes Summer School on scattering methods applied to soft condensed matter. Together, they published in 1991 the lecture notes of the first Bombannes school (Elsevier North Holland Delta Series, 1991) and edited the first edition of this book with Elsevier in 2002.

Julian Oberdisse has been working for the past 20 years at the University of Montpellier, France, on the experimental determination of microstructures and dynamics of soft matter (self-assembled systems, colloids, polymer nanocomposites). His main techniques are small-angle scattering of neutrons and X-rays, complemented by computer simulations, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, and light scattering. He is also strongly involved in the advisory boards of European research centers on neutron scattering. After having been a Bombannes student in 1996 and teaching there since 2004, he is currently co-organizing the Bombannes Summer School with Peter Lindner.