Small-angle neutron scattering: A critical study of the contrast approximation

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Abstract
A recent hypernetted chain study has yielded molecular correlations functions of a nonaqueous electrolyte solution. In the present paper these functions are taken to calculate small‐angle neutron scattering intensities of this solution in the framework of the so‐called ‘‘contrast‐approximation’’ commonly used for the interpretation of this kind of experiments. A comparison of this result to a rigorous calculation of the total scattering cross section reveals serious inconsistencies, even at very small scattering angles. Therefore the question is raised as to whether the contrast approximation can give a realistic description of small‐angle scattering data.