The D7 neutron diffuse scattering instrument at the Institut Laue-Langevin [1] has been an important experimental tool in the study of disordered materials, making use of neutron polarization analysis to provide a clean and unambiguous separation of the magnetic, incoherent, and structural contributions to the scattering.
D7 has been disassembled, and the new D007 [2] started its...
Solid-state batteries have attracted significant interest as promising candidates for high energy density and safe battery technology. However, they commonly experience low ionic conductivity at ambient temperature, which limits their power density. This study addresses this issue by developing a porous separator with one-dimensional (1D) nanometric channels that confine non-flammable ionic...
Linear polymers in shear flow display a dominant mode of dynamics known as tumbling, around the vorticity axis, whereby the two ends exchange their places, accompanied by a temporary compression of the chain in the gradient direction. We will demonstrate that topological polymers respond to shear in dramatically different ways, emerging from a coupling between topology and hydrodynamics. In...
Altermagnetism usually refers to the set of collinear compensated magnets at weak spin-orbit coupling whose crystal symmetries do not enforce spin degeneracy. In these systems, one expects an anisotropic pattern of spin splitting in momentum space in the electronic bands. In the magnon bands, one expects a similar pattern of chirality splitting. This talk will be dedicated to explaining how to...
Membrane proteins are responsible of all the communication between living cells and their environment. Despite their basic and therapeutic interest, their are under-represented in our structural biology knowledge due to the intrisic difficulties presented by their production, purification and handling. Nanodiscs are a great tools to study them in their native lipidic environment, and to study...
Superchaotropic nano-ions have recently captivated attention for their remarkable ability to adsorb onto hydrated neutral surfaces or bind strongly to some cavities of macrocyclic molecules.They indeed exhibit a range of fascinating behaviors:
1. Dramatically increasing the cloud point of non-ionic surfactant systems.
2. Triggering conformational changes in thermo-sensitive polymers in...
The first neutrons from the European Spallation Source are expected to arrive on November 9, 2025.BIFROST will be the first operating spectrometer at ESS. BIFROST is an indirect geometry instrument. It will explore quantum materials, for example, to understand the role of magnetism in superconductors, as well as to measure phonon and magnon spectra in functional materials. The instrument will...
The analysis of neutron data in the context of magnetic structure relies heavily on the fitting of the parameters of an effective Hamiltonian model. The complexity of the systems under study leads to the increase of the number of parameters of these models and a good starting guess for the fit becomes crucial. Ab initio calculations on these systems can provide quantitative estimate for the...
Millions of people suffer life-threatening fungal infections, but there are no vaccines, and only a few antifungal agents, whose application is often restricted by toxicity, resistance and low bioavailability. Most antimycotic drugs target ergosterol residing in fungal membranes, but their precise mechanisms of action, toxicity and resistance development are still unclear. A fuller...
Institut Max von Laue- Paul Langevin (ILL), 71 Avenue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble, France (vagias@ill.fr)
The concept of softness is encountered in different materials of the everyday life, although its precise quantification is still far to be achieved. In thin films of soft matter, quite often compounds that are energetically incompatible have to be mixed. The softness of the emerging...
1 Université Paris Saclay, Laboratoire Léon Brillouin, UMR 12 CNRS-CEA, CEA-Saclay,91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
The ICONE project aims to develop a compact neutron source (HiCANS – High Current Accelerator-driven Neutron Source) to serve the needs of the French scientific community. Within this framework, the SAMBA instrument (Small Angle Measurements for Broad Applications) is being...
As they often stabilize with complex non-collinear magnetic structures, frustrated magnets are potential candidates for type-II multiferroism, where both magnetic and electric orders appear at the same temperature and are strongly coupled [1]. In these materials, the proper understanding of the coupling between spin and charge degrees of freedom is a key to identify the microscopic mechanism...
