Data Analysis and Background Subtraction in Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy

Ingo Hoffmann

doi:10.3389/fphy.2020.620082

Abstract

With the constantly improving performance of neutron spin echo (NSE) spectrometers it becomes possible to perform measurements on increasingly complex samples and to study more and more delicate effects. To properly study such effects, proper background correction becomes increasingly important. In this paper, we will review different methods to subtract the buffer from NSE measurements and study the effect of small errors in the subtraction of the background. In the large dynamic range of modern neutron spin-echo spectrometers multiple effects become visible in a single measurement. Specifically, for vesicles both membrane undulations and translational diffusion have an effect on the intermediate scattering function in the NSE time window and here, we will investigate how taking this into account differently affects the results obtained from data analysis.

Highlights

After the invention of neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy by Mezei [1] in 1972 it took more than another decade before the technique was used to study membrane dynamics, at first using droplet microemulsions [2]
NSE Data Treatment to the study of membrane dynamics. Another example is the number of citations of papers mentioning NSE and membrane dynamics from the Web of Science core collection (November 2020) which has increased by almost a factor 30 between 2000 and 2020, accounting for more than 15% of all the citations of papers mentioning NSE compared to less than 2% in 2000
In this paper the effect of background subtraction and data treatment on the information that can be gained from neutron spin echo (NSE) experiments on bilayers was discussed

Summary

Background

With the constantly improving performance of neutron spin echo (NSE) spectrometers it becomes possible to perform measurements on increasingly complex samples and to study more and more delicate effects. To properly study such effects, proper background correction becomes increasingly important. In the large dynamic range of modern neutron spin-echo spectrometers multiple effects become visible in a single measurement For vesicles both membrane undulations and translational diffusion have an effect on the intermediate scattering function in the NSE time window and here, we will investigate how taking this into account differently affects the results obtained from data analysis

INTRODUCTION

DATA ANALYSIS

BACKGROUND

CONCLUSION

Findings

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT