Magnetic Structure Determinations at NBS/NIST

Magnetic neutron scattering plays a central role in determining and understanding the microscopic properties of a vast variety of magnetic systems, from the fundamental nature, symmetry, and dynamics of magnetically ordered materials to elucidating the magnetic characteristics essential in technological applications. From the early days of neutron scattering measurements at NBS/NIST, magnetic diffraction studies have been a central theme involving many universities, industrial and government labs from around the United States and worldwide. Such measurements have been used to determine the spatial arrangement and directions of the atomic magnetic moments, the atomic magnetization density of the individual atoms in the material, and the value of the ordered moments as a function of thermodynamic parameters such as temperature, pressure, and applied magnetic field. These types of measurements have been carried out on single crystals, powders, thin films, and artificially grown multilayers, and often the information collected can be obtained by no other experimental technique. This article presents, in an historical perspective, a few examples of work carried out at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), and discusses the key role that the Center can expect to play in future magnetism research.