When investigating vortex matter, the influence of the sample shape is however rarely considered, even though it can induce a strongly inhomogeneous distribution of vortices and under some circumstances even provoke the nucleation of a vortex lattice domain structure. Due to the lack of real as well as reciprocal space resolution on the appropriate length scale, both effects cannot be sufficiently studied by means of SANS.

The presentation will discuss how the combination of the advanced neutron imaging method neutron grating interferometry (nGI) [2] with ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (USANS) reveals the impact of the sample geometry onto the vortex phase in the elementary type-II\1 superconductor Niobium. While USANS is capable to probe the morphology of the µm vortex domains which nucleate as a consequence of the sample shape, nGI allows to directly map their spatial distribution within the sample [3].

The presented approach is by no means restricted to vortex matter. It can be extended in order to investigate the variety of modulated phases appearing in various other physical, chemical or biological systems, systems near phase transitions, as well as in emerging magnetic systems.

[1] M. R. Eskildsen, E. M. Forgan, H Kawano-Furukawa, Rep. Prog. Phys. 74, 124504 (2011)

[2] T. Reimann et al., J. Appl. Cryst. 49, 1488 (2016)

[3] T. Reimann et al., Nat. Commun. 6:8813 (2015)

Contact : dubouloz@ill.fr