Neutron Scattering from Amorphous Hydrogenated Carbon

An extensive study of amorphous hydrogenated carbon, a-C:H (often referred to as diamond-like carbon by virtue of its unique mechanical and optical attributes) has been conducted using the facilities at the ISIS pulsed neutron source. Diffraction data is able to resolve directly the contributions from the principal C-C bond types and to provide evidence for the existence of molecular hydrogen. Inelastic incoherent neutron scattering has been used in an attempt to study in more detail the nature of the hydrogen environment. These experiments have also provided further evidence for the presence of molecular hydrogen.