Neutron Laue diffraction - applications in magnetism
and hard condensed matter

B. Detlefs^1,2, G. McIntyre³, J. Vejpravová² , V. Sechovský²

¹European Commission, Joint Research Center, Karlsruhe, Germany

²Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

³Institute Laue-Langevin, BP 156, F-38042 Grenoble, France

Neutron Laue diffraction is a complementary technique to powder and single-crystal neutron diffractometry with possible wide use in magnetism and other areas of hard condensed matter physics. The ILL neutron Laue diffraction instrument VIVALDI (Very-Intense, Vertical-Axis Laue DIffractometer) with its vertical geometry allows for low-temperature sample environment necessary in most of magnetic structure studies. The power of this technique and the instrument in determining magnetic structures will be shown on the example of several rare-earth intermetallic compounds, in particular NdPtSn, PrCo₂Ge₂ and HoCoIn₅.