title: Sensing Polymer Chain Dynamics through Ring Topology: A Neutron Spin Echo Study.
abstract: Using neutron spin echo spectroscopy, we show that the segmental dynamics of polymer rings immersed in linear chains is completely controlled by the host. This transforms rings into ideal probes for studying the entanglement dynamics of the embedding matrix. As a consequence of the unique ring topology, in long chain matrices the entanglement spacing is directly revealed, unaffected by local reptation of the host molecules beyond this distance. In shorter entangled matrices, where in the time frame of the experiment secondary effects such as contour length fluctuations or constraint release could play a role, the ring motion reveals that the contour length fluctuation is weaker than assumed in state-of-the-art rheology and that the constraint release is negligible. We expect that rings, as topological probes, will also grant direct access to molecular aspects of polymer motion which have been inaccessible until now within chains adhering to more complex architectures.
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-1) and Institute for Complex Systems (ICS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gooßen
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-1) and Institute for Complex Systems (ICS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krutyeva
authors.affiliation: Institute Laue-Langevin (ILL), 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.|European Spallation Source ESS AB, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Lichtenbergstraße 1, 85747 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Artem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Feoktystov
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-1) and Institute for Complex Systems (ICS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allgaier
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-1) and Institute for Complex Systems (ICS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pyckhout-Hintzen
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-1) and Institute for Complex Systems (ICS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wischnewski
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS-1) and Institute for Complex Systems (ICS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Richter