The Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering (CHRNS)

National Institute Of Standards And Technology, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

9986442 Glinka This is a renewal award for the continued operation of the Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering (CHRNS). CHRNS is a major research facility jointly funded by the National Science foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). Its mission is to develop and operate state-of-the-art neutron scattering instrumentation, with broad application in materials research, for use by the general scientific community. CHRNS presently comprises three facilities: 1) a 30 meter, high resolution, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument; 2) a spin-polarized, inelastic neutron scattering (SPINS) spectrometer; and 3) a Bonse-Hart-type, perfect-crystal diffractometer (PCD) for ultra-high-resolution SANS that will become operational as a user instrument in 2000. The two SANS instruments combined are capable of determining statistically averaged structural information in materials on the widest range of length scale accessible at any neutron research center in North America. These instruments are used by university, government and industrial researchers in materials science, chemistry, biology and condensed matter physics to investigate materials such as synthetic polymers, metal alloys, ceramics, porous media, structured fluids and gels, biological macromolecules, and magnetic materials. The SPINS spectrometer is a cold neutron, triple-axis spectrometer with full polarization analysis that is used primarily by condensed matter physicists and physical chemists to probe nanoscale motions of atoms and magnetic moments in materials on time scales from 30 to 0.3 picoseconds. Through the use of innovative instrumentation, SPINS provides enhanced sensitivity for measuring low energy magnetic, vibrational and rotational excitations in ordered and disordered systems. %%% The Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering (CHRNS) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) develops and operates state-of-the-art neutron scattering instrumentation, with broad application in materials research, for use by the general scientific community. CHRNS presently comprises three facilities: 1) a 30 meter, high resolution, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument; 2) a spin-polarized, inelastic neutron scattering (SPINS) spectrometer; and 3) a Bonse-Hart-type, perfect-crystal diffractometer (PCD) for ultra-high-resolution SANS that will become operational as a user instrument in 2000. The two SANS instruments combined are capable of determining statistically averaged structural information in materials on a scale from one nanometer to ten micrometers, the widest range accessible at any neutron research center in North America. These instruments are used by university, government and industrial researchers in materials science, chemistry, biology and condensed matter physics to investigate materials such as synthetic polymers, metal alloys, ceramics, porous media, structured fluids and gels, biological macromolecules, and magnetic materials. The SPINS spectrometer is a cold neutron, triple-axis spectrometer with full polarization analysis that is used primarily by condensed matter physicists and physical chemists to probe nanoscale motions of atoms and magnetic moments in materials on time scales in the picoseconds. Through the use of innovative neutron supermirror transmission polarizers, SPINS provides enhanced sensitivity for measuring low energy magnetic, vibrational and rotational excitations in ordered and disordered systems. ***