利用中子散射探索生命世界中的物理奥秘  

Using neutron scattering to explore the mysteries in biophysical sciences

作　　者：韩晶晶 储祥蔷 HAN Jing-Jing;CHU Xiang-Qiang(Graduate School of China Academy of Engineering Physics,Beijing 100193,China)

机构地区：[1]中国工程物理研究院研究生院

出　　处：《物理》2019年第12期780-789,共10页Physics

摘　　要：中子散射是利用入射中子与原子核发生碰撞以后中子动量与能量的改变来研究微观世界的一种技术。由于中子对氢原子的散射截面远大于其他元素的独特属性,使得中子散射在研究包含大量氢元素的生物大分子的结构以及动力学特性方面都有卓越的应用。文章对中子散射在生物方面的应用进行了探讨,重点介绍了中子衍射、结合衬度变换技术的小角中子散射、准弹性/非弹性中子散射和中子自旋回波技术,以及它们在研究生物大分子结构、动力学及其功能方面的应用。最后对中子散射未来在生命科学中探索新的物理现象进行了探讨和展望。Neutron scattering is a technique that helps to unravel the mysteries of the microscopic world by studying the changes in the momentum and energy of incident neutrons after collision with nuclei.Because the scattering cross section of a hydrogen atom is much larger than that of other atoms,neutron scattering has excellent applications in studying the structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules containing a large number of hydrogen atoms.In this paper,we introduce the principles and recent progress of primary neutron scattering techniques that can be applied in the field of biological science,including neutron crystallography and variable contrast small angle neutron scattering for structural biology,quasi-elastic neutron scattering,and neutron spin echo techniques for macromolecular dynamics studies.Finally,future challenges for discovering new physics phenomena in the biological sciences by neutron scattering are discussed.

关 键 词：中子散射 生物大分子结构及动力学 小角散射 衬度变换 准弹性中子散射 中子自旋回波 

分 类 号：O57[理学—粒子物理与原子核物理]