Polarized neutron reflectometry - a historical perspective

Born in the early 1980s to study magnetic films, polarized neutron reflecto metry (PNR) has enjoyed growing popularity as witnessed by the number of in struments assembled at neutron research centers. PNR has proved its usefuln ess by providing information as diverse as the penetration depth of the mag netic field in superconductors and the absolute value of the magnetic momen ts in ultrathin ferromagnetic layers; yet its widest application has become the study of the magnetic configurations in multilayers. Two types of refl ectometers have been constructed: time of flight and crystal analyzer. The relative merits of the two types are discussed in the light of present and future applications, (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.