Indexing neutron transmission spectra of a rotating crystal.

Abstract

Neutron time-of-flight transmission spectra of mosaic crystals contain Bragg dips, i.e., minima at wavelengths corresponding to diffraction reflections. The positions of the dips are used for investigating crystal lattices. By rotating the sample around a fixed axis and recording a spectrum at each rotation step, the intensity of the transmitted beam is obtained as a function of the rotation angle and wavelength. The questions addressed in this article concern the determination of lattice parameters and orientations of centrosymmetric crystals from such data. It is shown that if the axis of sample rotation is inclined to the beam direction, the reflection positions unambiguously determine reciprocal-lattice vectors, which is not the case when the axis is perpendicular to the beam. Having a set of such vectors, one can compute the crystal orientation or lattice parameters using existing indexing software. The considerations are applicable to arbitrary Laue symmetry. The work contributes to the automation of the analysis of diffraction data obtained in the neutron imaging mode.