Investigating hard sphere interactions through spin echo scattering angle measurement

Spin Echo Scattering Angle Measurement (SESAME) allows neutron scattering instruments to perform real space measurements on large micron scale samples by encoding the scattering angle into the neutron's spin state via Larmor precession. I have built a SESAME instrument at the Low Energy Neutron Source. I have also assisted in the construction of a modular SESAME instrument on the ASTERIX beamline at Los Alamos National lab. The ability to tune these instruments has been proved mathematically and optimized and automated experimentally. Practical limits of the SESAME technique with respect to polarization analyzers, neutron spectra, Larmor elements, and data analysis were investigated. The SESAME technique was used to examine the interaction of hard spheres under depletion. Poly(methyl methacrylate) spheres suspended in decalin had previously been studied as a hard sphere solution. The interparticle correlations between the spheres were found to match the Percus-Yevick closure, as had been previously seen in dynamical light scattering experiments. To expand beyond pure hard spheres, 900kDa polystyrene was added to the solution in concentrations of less than 1% by mass. The steric effects of the polystyrene were expected to produce a short-range, attractive, "sticky" potential. Experiment showed, however, that the "sticky" potential was not a stable state and that the spheres would eventually form long range aggregates.