Hydrogen Absorption in Metal Thin Films and Heterostructures Investigated in Situ with Neutron and X-ray Scattering

Due to hydrogen possessing a relatively large neutron scattering length, hydrogen absorption and desorption behaviors in metal thin films can straightforwardly be investigated by neutron reflectometry. However, to further elucidate the chemical structure of the hydrogen absorbing materials, complementary techniques such as high resolution X-ray reflectometry and diffraction remain important too. Examples of work on such systems include Nband Pd-based multilayers, where Nb and Pd both have strong affinity to hydrogen. W/Nb and Fe/Nb multilayers were measured in situ with unpolarized and polarized neutron reflectometry under hydrogen gas charging conditions. The gas-pressure/hydrogen-concentration dependence, the hydrogen-induced macroscopic film swelling as well as the increase in crystal lattice plane distances of the films were determined. Ferromagnetic-Co/Pd multilayers were studied with polarized neutron reflectometry and in situ ferromagnetic resonance measurements to understand the effect of hydrogen absorption on the magnetic properties of the system. This electronic effect enables a novel approach for hydrogen sensing using a magnetic readout scheme.