Magnetic monopoles are created (top) when the spin of an ion in one corner of a spin ice crystal is knocked askew, creating a monopole (red sphere) and adjacent antimonopole (blue sphere). Neutron scattering at the NCNR allowed the team to see the spin ice's transition from its normal state (center) to the monopole state. Monopoles scatter neutrons in a telltale fashion indicated by the red arrows in (bottom.) Credit: NIST
Isn't the neutron scattering just a method of measuring things? I thought it was much like electron microscopes, you throw a neutron at the stuff, and watch how it bounces. Except that the properties of the neutron tell you different things than an electron or other particle or ray would.
