Neutron Scattering in Mineral Sciences: Preface
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Eur. J. Mineral. 2002, 14, 195-202 Neutron scattering in Mineral Sciences: Preface ROMANO RINALDI* Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Perugia, I-06100 Perugia, Italy Abstract: The recently renewed activity related to the planning and construction of the next generation of neutron sources in the USA, Japan, and Europe, has prompted the birth of this Special Issue where the main applications of neutron-scattering techniques in Mineral Sciences are reviewed. The collection gathers a series of stand-alone but coordinated articles intended to provide a panoramic view of all fields of interest on the subject with a tutorial approach. This preface provides a general scientific framework intended as an introduction to the subject for the novice and as a guide for the whole Special Issue. An Index of the ten papers collected and an Appendix on the existing European Neutron Facilities are given together with many references for further documentation mostly available from the World Wide Web. Key-words: neutron scattering, mineral science techniques, mineral science applications, European neutron facilities. Introduction http://www.esf.org -. v) ESS-SAC Workshop Engelberg (CH), 2001 - http://www.ess-europe.de/search_ess.html -. The Earth Science community has recently shown Reviewing the interest of Mineral and Earth Sciences considerable interest for neutron-scattering techniques, for neutron scattering with present-day and future neutron mostly in the field of chemistry and physics of minerals sources in the context of the ESS project (Artioli et al., and particularly for in situ studies carried out at tempera- 1996; Dove et al., 1997; Price et al., 2000; Rinaldi et al., tures and pressures typical of the Earth’s interior environ- 2001), has prompted the idea of this Special Issue. The ments. Furthermore, in recent years, in conjunction with Editors’ and contributing Authors’ intention is to provide a the development of the project for a next-generation timely review, with a tutorial approach, of the state-of-the- neutron source to be built in Europe (the European art of neutron-scattering applications in Mineral Sciences Spallation Source – ESS), a number of studies have been and related fields, covering the most established undertaken by several science and technology groups, in approaches, at the time of a renewed interest for these order to review the existing interest for neutron scattering investigation techniques, once uncommon in this field, and and to investigate the scientific opportunities offered by with an eye to the future. this new kind of neutron source to the advancement of The latest generation of diffractometers and spectrome- Science. A thorough idea of this scenario can be gleaned ters at modern neutron sources, such as ILL in France, in from the following five documents: i) “Scientific Prospects the category of steady-state reaction sources, and ISIS in for Neutron Scattering with Present and Future Sources”, the UK, in that of pulsed spallation sources, has recently ESF Framework Studies into Large Research Facilities; allowed the accurate determination of subtle, yet very ESF Special Publication, 1996, ISBN 2-903148-90-2 – important, structural details in minerals, also as a function http://ensa.web.psi.ch/ensa/autrans.pdf -. ii) “ESS, A Next of temperature and pressure. Neutron-scattering techniques Generation Neutron Source for Europe, Vol. II. The are particularly versatile as they allow the investigation of Scientific Case”, ESS Council, 1997; ISBN 090 237 6 500 both structural details (through diffraction) and structural and ISBN 090 237 6 608 – http://www.ess-europe.de/ dynamics (through spectroscopy) of the atomic arrange- documentation/ESSvol2b.pdf -. iii) “Survey of the Neutron ments in materials, and because they allow measurements Scattering Community and Facilities in Europe”, prepared of coherent and incoherent scattering and absorption for ESF by the European Neutron Scattering Association processes. As a result, a wide range of phenomena can be (ENSA) August 1998, ISBN 2-912049-00-8 – studied using neutron scattering. Neutrons are scattered by http://ensa.web.psi.ch/ensa/survey.pdf -. iv) “The Scien- the atomic nucleus and by atomic magnetic moments, and tific-Strategic Case for a Next-generation European therefore have a complementary role to X-ray scattering Spallation Neutron Source for Science and Research (ESS operated by the electrons. Neutron scattering has an addi- Project)”, ESF Studies on Large Research Facilities in tional advantage over some other techniques in that it Europe, Interim Report 2000, ISBN 2-912049-20-2 – allows good data to be obtained under a wide range of *e-mail: [email protected] 0935-1221/02/0014-0195 $ 3.60 DOI: 10.1127/0935-1221/2002/0014-0195 © 2002 E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. D-70176 Stuttgart Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/eurjmin/article-pdf/14/2/195/3119472/195.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 196 R. Rinaldi sample environments. Hence the potential of neutron-scat- provide a large number of examples of the application of tering methods for the solution of Earth Science problems, neutron scattering for the location of hydrogen in the including many environmental problems, is extremely crystal structures of minerals and the characterisation of promising. The traditional drawbacks connected with the their hydrogen bonds. need for relatively large samples, imposed by the modest neutron flux at measuring stations, are being overcome by 2. Scattering cross-section present-day and especially future neutron sources and instrumentation. The fact that the scattering cross-section for neutrons The first review in this monographic Collection (Dove, does not change with scattering vector, whereas with X- 2002) deals with the fundamental aspects of neutron-matter rays it falls off more-or-less as the inverse of the atomic interaction with an eye to Mineral Science and Earth radius, means that neutron scattering allows the collection Science applications, and is also aimed at providing an of diffraction data up to large scattering vectors. This is overview of the advantages (and disadvantages) connected useful for a number of reasons. First, for investigating with the use of neutron-scattering techniques in the solu- complex crystal structures and crystal chemistries, such as tion of mineralogical issues of fundamental importance for occur in many minerals, it provides a significant increase in the Earth Sciences. the amount of information available in a diffraction pattern. The second review in the Collection (Winkler, 2002) is Second, for information about thermal motion a wide aimed at providing the necessary background on the gener- coverage of the scattering vector is essential. Third, to ation of neutron beams and on the instrumentation extract information about site occupancies, and to decouple employed in order to contribute to the understanding of the this information from the thermal motion, it is again essen- experiments described in the following reviews devoted to tial to have data over a wide range of scattering vectors. the various applications. These three fundamental properties find a large number The following list of ten points of merit from Rinaldi et of applications as described in the examples reported in the al. (2001), describing some of the many features of neutron papers of this Collection dealing with diffraction. For scattering that makes it a method of choice for studying example, Artioli (2002) shows the unique advantages natural materials, integrated with a brief account of each of offered by neutron scattering for the accurate determination the reviews in that Monograph, is intended as a guide for of the thermal components of atomic displacement param- the novice in this field and as a guide for this Special Issue eters presenting an unpublished work on cuprite (Cu2O). itself. Furthermore, in crystals with considerable disorder, or in amorphous materials or liquids, there is a lot of informa- tion about short-range order contained within the total scat- Points of merit for neutron scattering in tering, S(Q). The paper on total scattering by Dove et al. Mineral and Earth Sciences and the contents of (2002) deals with this last point and reports, besides the this Monograph fundamental principles involved in the technique, the unequivocal results obtained in a number of key examples of mineralogical importance such as the silica polymorphs 1. Hydrogen in minerals and sulphur hexafluoride. Neutrons, as opposed to X-rays, are efficiently scattered 3. Scattering contrast is not electron-dependent by hydrogen 1H and deuterium 2H atoms. Many minerals contain hydrogen, often in the form of bound or free The contrast between the neutron-scattering cross- hydroxide ions, or in the form of bound or free water sections of mineralogically common atoms or cations molecules within either structurally active sites, or intersti- which have equal or similar numbers of electrons, such as tial cavities in the crystal structure. Water in minerals and Ti4+, Ca2+ and K+; or K+ and Cl- or Na+, Mg2+, Al3+ and rocks is extremely important in regulating a large variety of Si4+ or Fe2+ and Mn2+, allows neutron diffraction to be used behaviours and properties of interest to the Earth Sciences for the direct determination of their site occupancies and spanning from the atomic to the continental scale. Because order-disorder distributions. Untangling the ordering of hydrogen has an extremely large cross-section for inco- these cations by X-rays can only be achieved indirectly by herent scattering, neutron scattering can be used to study the analysis of bond lengths, but these are not definitive the motions of individual hydrogen atoms. Slow motions of since bond lengths are affected by factors other than the the hydrogen atoms, such as diffusion or reorientational specific site occupancy. Neutron diffraction allows the motions, can be probed by quasi-elastic scattering, and fast direct determination of site occupancies for these motions by high-energy spectroscopy. On the other hand, frequently coexisting cations in minerals.