Överlåtaren: A fast way to transfer and orthogonalize two-dimensional off-specular reflectivity data

F. A. Adlmann, G. K. Pálsson, J. C. Bilheux, J. F. Ankner, P. Gutfreund, M. Kawecki, M. Wolff

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reflectivity measurements offer unique opportunities for the study of surfaces and interfaces, and specular reflectometry has become a standard tool in materials science to resolve structures normal to the surface of a thin film. Off-specular scattering, which probes lateral structures, is more difficult to analyse, because the Fourier space being probed is highly anisotropic and the scattering pattern is truncated by the interface. As a result, scattering patterns collected with (especially time-of-flight) neutron reflectometers are difficult to transform into reciprocal space for comparison with model calculations. A program package is presented for a generic two-dimensional transformation of reflectometry data into q space and back. The data are represented on an orthogonal grid, allowing cuts along directions relevant for theoretical modelling. This treatment includes background subtraction as well as a full characterization of the resolution function. The method is optimized for computational performance using repeatable operations and standardized instrument settings. Överlätaren is a program package to transfer and visualize off-specular data in q space, to improve data treatment and accessibility.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2091-2099
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Applied Crystallography
Volume49
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2016
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors acknowledge the Swedish Research Council (project grant C0511501) and STINT (contract No. IG-2011-2067) for financial support. This research at the Spallation Neutron Source of the ORNL was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy. The authors express their gratitude to the Large Scale Structures group at ILL for the good ongoing partnership. Our deep gratitude is expressed towards A. Schebetov from the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute and A. Vorobiev from Uppsala University who provided the sample data for the SuperADAM section.

Keywords

  • interfaces
  • neutron reflectometry
  • off-specular scattering
  • surfaces

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