Multi-step magnetic transitions in EuNiIn

Ikeda, Shugo*; Kaneko, Koji; Tanaka, Yuki*; Kawasaki, Takuro; Hanashima, Takayasu*; Munakata, Koji*; Nakao, Akiko*; Kiyanagi, Ryoji; Ohara, Takashi; Mochizuki, Kensei*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 89(1), p.014707_1 - 014707_7, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.89.014707

Development of spin-contrast-variation neutron reflectometry for the structural analysis of multilayer films

Kumada, Takayuki; Akutsu, Kazuhiro*; Oishi, Kazuki*; Morikawa, Toshiaki*; Kawamura, Yukihiko*; Sahara, Masae*; Suzuki, Junichi*; Torikai, Naoya*

Journal of Applied Crystallography, 52(5), p.1054 - 1060, 2019/10

https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576719010616

We developed a technique of spin-contrast-variation neutron reflectometry (SCV-NR). Polarized-neutron reflectivity curves of film samples vary as a function of their proton-polarization P. The P-dependent reflectivity curves of a polystyrene film was precisely reproduced using a common set of structure parameters and the P-dependent neutron scattering length. The reflectivity curve of poly (styrene-block-isoprene) (PSPI) presented a shoulder attributed to holes with the depth corresponding to one period of periodic lamellae on the free surface only at a specific P. In this way, structural information about specific surfaces or interfaces can be obtained by controlling the P.

Structural change of borosilicate glass by neutron irradiation

Nagai, Takayuki; Kobayashi, Hidekazu; Okamoto, Yoshihiro; Akiyama, Daisuke*; Sato, Nobuaki*; Uehara, Akihiro*; Fujii, Toshiyuki*; Sekimoto, Shun*

KURNS Progress Report 2018, P. 105, 2019/08

http://www.rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/PUB/report/PR/ProgRep2018/KURNS_Progress_Report2018_web.pdf

To understand this structural change of a borosilicate glass by a neutron irradiation in detail, the irradiation test was carried out in KUR in 2017FY. The glass structure was estimated by using Raman spectrometry in 2018FY. Comparing with the Raman spectra of glass samples before and after irradiation, it could be observed the change of peak height of Si-O bridging structure by the irradiation.

Impact of irradiation side on neutron-induced single-event upsets in 65-nm Bulk SRAMs

Abe, Shinichiro; Liao, W.*; Manabe, Seiya*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Hashimoto, Masanori*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 66(7, Part2), p.1374 - 1380, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2019.2902176

Single event upsets (SEUs) caused by secondary cosmic-ray neutrons have recognized as a serious reliability problem for microelectronic devices. Acceleration tests at neutron facilities are convenient to validate soft error rates (SERs) quickly, but some corrections caused from measurement conditions are required to derive realistic SERs at actual environment or to compare other measured data. In this study, the effect of irradiation side on neutron-induced SEU cross sections was investigated by performing neutron transport simulation using PHITS. SERs for 65-nm bulk CMOS SRAMs are estimated using the sensitive volume model. It was found from simulation that SERs for the sealant side irradiation are 30-50% larger than those for the board side irradiation. This difference comes from the difference of production yield and angular distribution of secondary H and He ions, which are the main cause of SEUs. Thus the direction of neutron irradiation should be reported when the result of acceleration tests are published. This result also indicates that SERs can be reduced by equipping device with sealant side facing downward.

Study on BC decoupler with burn-up reduction aiming at 1-MW pulsed neutron source

Oi, Motoki; Teshigawara, Makoto; Harada, Masahide; Ikeda, Yujiro

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(7), p.573 - 579, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1604273

In pulsed neutron sources, a neutron absorber called decoupler is attached to the moderator to sharpen the neutron pulses for achieving good neutron energy resolutions. Cadmium and boron carbide (BC) are widely used as the decoupler materials. However, it is difficult to use BC in MW-class spallation neutron sources owing to high burn-up, which decreases cut-off energy and increase of helium gas swelling. To solve these issues, we introduce the concept of pre-decoupler to reduce neutron absorption in the BC decoupler, which is sandwiched by appropriate neutron absorption materials. Then, we study impacts of the pre-decouplers on BC decoupler in terms of burn-up by performing simplified model calculations. It is shown that neutron absorption in BC is reduced by 60% by using a Cd pre-decoupler without neutron intensity penalty. Moreover, helium gas swelling in BC is restrained to be one-third of the value when not using the pre-decoupler.

Background issues encountered by cold-neutron chopper spectrometer AMATERAS

Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Nakajima, Kenji; Kawamura, Seiko; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Wakai, Daisuke*; Aoyama, Kazuhiro*; Iwahashi, Takaaki*; Kambara, Wataru*

Physica B; Condensed Matter, 564, p.45 - 53, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2019.02.015

Details of the background, that is, unwanted signals accumulated by the data acquisition system of neutron instruments, observed by the cold-neutron chopper spectrometer AMATERAS installed at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at J-PARC are reported. In the design phase of AMATERAS, we carefully considered the achievement of high signal-to-noise ratio, and possible countermeasures were implemented. Actually, recent scientific outputs from AMATERAS indicates that the spectrometer is one of excellent neutron instruments with low background. In spite of that, in nine years of AMATERAS operation, we have encountered unwanted signals due to various reasons, including gamma-rays emitted at materials on or near the beam line including the sample itself, scattered neutrons from the beam line devices, air scattering, electronic noise in data acquisition system, cosmic rays, T0 burst, and other unknown sources. In this report, we discuss the background observed by AMATERAS, especially in the conditions of without samples, comprehensively. The possible sources of these signals and the countermeasures considered against the above sources are discussed, which may be helpful to those who are engaged in other existing or planned neutron-scattering instruments.

Development of a technique for high pressure neutron diffraction at 40 GPa with a Paris-Edinburgh press

Hattori, Takanori; Sano, Asami; Machida, Shinichi*; Abe, Jun*; Funakoshi, Kenichi*; Arima, Hiroshi*; Okazaki, Nobuo*

High Pressure Research, 39(3), p.417 - 425, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/08957959.2019.1624745

We have developed a technique for neutron diffraction experiments at pressures up to 40 GPa using a Paris-Edinburgh press at the PLANET beamline in J-PARC. To increase the maximum accessible pressure, the diameter of the dimple for sample chamber at the top of the sintered diamond anvils is sequentially reduced from 4.0 mm to 1.0 mm. As a result, the maximum pressure increased and finally reached 40 GPa. By combining this technique with the beam optics which defines the gauge volume, diffraction patterns sufficient for full-structure refinements are obtainable at such pressures.

Triplon band splitting and topologically protected edge states in the dimerized antiferromagnet

Nawa, Kazuhiro*; Tanaka, Kimihito*; Kurita, Nubuyuki*; Sato, Taku*; Sugiyama, Haruki*; Uekusa, Hidehiro*; Kawamura, Seiko; Nakajima, Kenji; Tanaka, Hidekazu*

Nature Communications (Internet), 10, p.2096_1 - 2096_8, 2019/05

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10091-6

Search for topological materials has been actively promoted in the field of condensed matter physics for their potential application in energy-efficient information transmission and processing. Recent studies have revealed that topologically invariant states, such as edge states in topological insulators, can emerge not only in a fermionic electron system but also in a bosonic system, enabling nondissipative propagation of quasiparticles. Here we report the topologically nontrivial triplon bands measured by inelastic neutron scattering on the spin-1/2 two-dimensional dimerized antiferromagnet BaCuSiOCl. The excitation spectrum exhibits two triplon bands that are clearly separated by a band gap due to a small alternation in interdimer exchange interaction, consistent with a refined crystal structure. By analytically modeling the triplon dispersion, we show that BaCuSiOCl is the first bosonic realization of the coupled Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, where the presence of topologically protected edge states is prompted by a bipartite nature of the lattice.

Sample shape effect on nuclear material quantification with neutron resonance transmission analysis

Tsuchiya, Harufumi; Ma, F.; Kitatani, Fumito; Paradella, C.*; Heyse, J.*; Kopecky, S.*; Schillebeeckx, P.*

Proceedings of 41st ESARDA Annual Meeting (Internet), p.374 - 377, 2019/05

Colossal barocaloric effects in plastic crystals

Li, B.*; Kawakita, Yukinobu; Kawamura, Seiko; Sugahara, Takeshi*; Wang, H.*; Wang, J.*; Chen, Y.*; Kawaguchi, Saori*; Kawaguchi, Shogo*; Ohara, Koji*; et al.

Nature, 567(7749), p.506 - 510, 2019/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1042-5

Refrigeration is of vital importance for modern society for example, for food storage and air conditioning- and 25 to 30% of the world's electricity is consumed for refrigeration. Current refrigeration technology mostly involves the conventional vapour compression cycle, but the materials used in this technology are of growing environmental concern because of their large global warming potential. As a promising alternative, refrigeration technologies based on solid-state caloric effects have been attracting attention in recent decades. However, their application is restricted by the limited performance of current caloric materials, owing to small isothermal entropy changes and large driving magnetic fields. Here we report colossal barocaloric effects (CBCEs) (barocaloric effects are cooling effects of pressure-induced phase transitions) in a class of disordered solids called plastic crystals. The obtained entropy changes in a representative plastic crystal, neopentylglycol, are about 389 joules per kilogram per kelvin near room temperature. Pressure-dependent neutron scattering measurements reveal that CBCEs in plastic crystals can be attributed to the combination of extensive molecular orientational disorder, giant compressibility and highly anharmonic lattice dynamics of these materials. Our study establishes the microscopic mechanism of CBCEs in plastic crystals and paves the way to next-generation solid-state refrigeration technologies.