Fine structural analysis using single crystal neutron diffraction

Kaneko, Koji   

Neutron and X-ray are complementary probes for structural study. Whereas X-ray is superior in terms of brilliance and resolution in general, neutron diffraction has better spatial resolution reflecting the difference in scattering medium; electron and nuclei for X-ray and neutron, respectively. This difference results in the fact that neutron diffraction has higher sensitivity to probe thermal vibration and off-center potential in a crystal. Here, as an example, we will show single crystal neutron diffraction study on "rattling" in rare-earth based filled skutterudite compounds.