In the last two decades the inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) in the meV energy range has become a powerful spectroscopic tool complementary to the well-established inelastic neutron scattering (INS). At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), there are currently two three-axis spectrometers (ID16 and ID28 beamlines) working with close-to-backscattering geometry, dedicated to phonon spectroscopy. It is worth noting that with respect to INS, the amount of material needed is 3-5 orders less, and anomalous absorption (like for B, Cd, Gd…) or anomalously high cross-sections (H) are not present. So, the IXS can be applied to very wide class of materials, including the experiments under the extreme conditions. Some applied aspects will be presented, including phonon density of states probed by the IXS and elasticity of highly anisotropic systems.
ESRF