Multiple scattering and resolution effects in small-angle neutron scattering experiments calculated and corrected by the software package MuScatt

This article deals with multiple scattering effects that are important for the method of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). It considers three channels for the coherent elastic, the incoherent elastic and the incoherent inelastic scattering processes. The first channel contains the desired information on the experiment. Its multiple scattering effects can be desmeared, as shown in the later sections of the article. The other two channels display a nearly constant background as a function of the scattering angle. The incoherent elastic scattering is treated by the theory of Chandrasekhar, allowing for multiple scattering even at large scattering angles. The transfer to a single representative thermalized wavelength by the inelastic scattering – as a simplification – is assumed to happen by a single scattering event. Once the transition to this altered wavelength has happened, further incoherent multiple scattering is considered. The first part of the paper deals with the multiple scattering effects of light water. In the later part of the article, deconvolution algorithms for multiple scattering and instrumental resolution of the elastic coherent signal as implemented in the program MuScatt are described. All of these considerations are interesting for both reactor-based instruments with velocity selectors and time-of-flight SANS instruments and may improve the reliability of the data treatment.