ILL Chadwick Amphiteatre or https://ill.zoom.us/j/99924423940?pwd=fujhPSrsuFBdeLrpWCgtFFCtTEsaCD.1
Crystals may appear perfectly static, yet their ordered structures are alive with motion. Lattice vibrations and spin fluctuations — and the coupling between them — are central to understanding a material’s mechanical, electronic, thermal, and magnetic properties. Neutron scattering provides a direct probe of the energy spectrum and characteristic wavelengths of these excitations, but distinguishing between nuclear, magnetic, and hybrid contributions remains a challenge. Polarised neutrons offer a powerful approach: by controlling and analysing the neutron spin alongside energy and momentum transfer, we can disentangle lattice and magnetic dynamics and visualise different aspects of the latter.
We demonstrate these capabilities through examples from various IN20 configurations and highlight recent advances with the wide-angle polarisation device PASTIS, which allows a large simultaneous reciprocal-space coverage. This development serves as a prototype for future polarisation analysis on time-of-flight spectrometers such as PANTHER and IN5, and opens new possibilities for comprehensive, multidimensional studies of lattice and spin dynamics in quantum and functional materials.