In this report, the effects of adding 11B4C as interlayers into Fe/Si multilayers is studied. Fe/Si multilayers are commonly used for neutron polarization at large research facilities, and improving the polarizing properties would improve their efficiency. To study this, DC magnetron sputtering was used to make different sets of samples varying interlayer thicknesses, period thicknesses, number of periods, layer thickness ratios and also testing it with steel instead of iron in the multilayers. The samples were then studied using a series of characterization techniques to study how different growth parameters affected the sample’s properties. X-ray diffraction(XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (ED) were used for studying the crystal structure of the samples. X-ray reflectometry (XRR) was used to for fitting layer thicknesses and interface widths, and also to compare reflectivities. Elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) was used to study the compositions changes of the samples. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) gave information about how the magnetization changed between samples. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) visualized the structure of the samples. Finally, polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) was done at Institute Laue Langevin (ILL), revealing the actual polarization of the samples. The results of the measurements concluded that for a sample with 40 periods, a period thickness of approximately 16 Å and a thickness ratio of around 0.5 for iron and silicon, using 1 Å thick 11B4C interlayers improved the polarization between the Bragg peaks by 60 %, and at the angle of the spin up peak by 130 %. The results also indicate improved polarization for samples with more or thicker periods. Using low carbon steel instead of iron showed poor results for thin layers, however showed promise for thicker layers due to good reflectivity results, but further testing is required.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-197248 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Falk, Martin |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Tunnfilmsfysik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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