Alle promoties, intree- en afscheidsredes worden gehouden in de Aula van de TU Delft, Mekelweg 5, Delft
Intreerede
Neutronen
21 maart 2001 | 16.00 uur
Prof.dr. G.J. Kearley, hoogleraar Neutronen Fysica, faculteit Technische Natuurwetenschappen
The Matter of Neutrons and Matter
We usually examine the structure and motion of matter on the microscopic scale by watching the response of the electrons to movements of the atomic nuclei. This is rather like trying to track a football by only watching the players. Neutron scattering overcomes this difficulty by looking directly at the position and motion of the atomic nuclei, and there is more: Each neutron that is scattered also carries information about the identity and the magnetic character of the atom that it encountered. The density of neutrons in most research beams is rather low (comparable to the density of interstellar gas), and initially neutron scattering was used almost exclusively in solid-state physics. Over the past 40 years however, large central facilities have been built and physicists, chemists, biologists, material scientists, engineers, and even geologists now use neutrons. Kearley will give an overview of how neutrons find their way from nuclei, along tubes to instruments, samples and detectors, and what they tell us about their short spell of freedom.