Session EC17 - Scattering From Particles and Surfaces.
ORAL session, Monday morning, March 22
Room 263W, GWCC
Our latest efforts to apply small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to study the properties of nanodroplet aerosols will be reported. Our new aerosol SANS technique uses a supersonic nozzle to generate the aerosol particles in a high speed isentropic expansion. Because of the relative motion of the neutrons and aerosol particles, the laboratory SANS intensity patterns are anisotropic. To test our ability to correct our results for this anisotropy, we conducted SANS experiments using a constant source of D_2O aerosol with droplet velocities of 400-450 m/s and neutron speeds of 267, 400, and 800 m/s. The theoretically predicted anisotropy of the laboratory scattering intensities was found to agree well with the experimental results. The properly interpreted scattering patterns yield valuable information about the size distribution and structure of the aerosol particles.