Joint Research Activities under FP6

The novel detector and readout electronics technology, which were developed and prototyped in DETNI, proves the capability of these innovations to advance thermal neutron detection from the 1 Mevent/s counting rate and 1 mm spatial resolution level to the 100 Mevent/s and 50-100 μm level, with single event counting, fast timing and neutron wavelength resolution, as needed for coping with demanding applications at next generation spallation neutron sources.

The MILAND detector allows a better quality of data collected during the experiments: The gain in angular resolution improves the separation of neighbouring Bragg peaks and their localisation; for reflectometry, the gain in counting rate capability allows reducing the duration of the acquisition by a factor of 10

Within JRA3 we have developed two new SANS techniques, which allow us to decrease the momentum transfer by one to two orders of magnitude while maintaining a high intensity, thus challenging the presently used ultra-SANS techniques based on perfect crystal optics.

The number of instruments taking advantage of the spin filters has increased very rapidly during the project. For example, the quantity of polarised gas produced for scheduled experiments has been multiplied by 3 at ILL.

The development of new superconductors, molecular magnets, spin electronic and magnetic nanostructures are at the forefront of condensed matter research. Polarized neutron scattering provides exceptional possibilities for detailed understanding of the mechanisms involved.

The back-bone of the MCNSI JRA is the three software packages for neutron ray-tracing Monte-Carlo simulation: McStas, VITESS, and RESTRAX.

The impact of this JRA has occurred within a growing sector of the biological sciences sector where it has for a long time been recognised that the ability to label or selectively label biological molecules can have a huge effect on the scope of the work possible by neutron scattering, providing information that is outside the scope of X-ray diffraction methods.

The JRA´s aim has been to develop new technologies for the muon method in order to extend the technique’s capabilities and further develop the ISIS and PSI muon sources for the benefit of the user community.