The ‘neutron window’ of collective excitations in lipid membranes

While most spectroscopic techniques, e.g., nuclear magnetic resonance or dielectric spectroscopy probe macroscopic responses, neutron and with some restrictions also X-ray scattering experiments give unique access to microscopic dynamics at length scales of intermolecular or atomic distances. Only recently, it has become possible to study collective dynamics of planar lipid bilayers using neutron spectroscopy techniques [M.C. Rheinstädter, et …