International Workshop on Cold Neutron Time-of-Flight (TOF) Spectroscopy, Washington, DC, July 14-17, 2003

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is an international workshop on scientific opportunities with cold neutron time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy, being held on 14 - 17 July 2003 in the Washington, DC area. Cold neutron spectroscopy is the best method to use for exploring phenomena that occur on timescales of atomic vibrations or longer, typical of collective phenomena in condensed matter, polymers, quantum liquids, and other areas. The workshop will examine novel scientific opportunities as well as techniques to enhance the performance of instrumentation. An important aspect of the workshop will be to introduce younger scientists - graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty - to this field. The workshop will endeavor to identify new types of instrumentation needed to realize the new scientific opportunities, and it will explore opportunities to apply cold neutron spectroscopy to fields in which it has not traditionally been used; for example, environmental chemistry, geology, biology, and engineering. Neutrons with low energies (called "cold" neutrons) are very useful probes of the properties of matter. Beams of such neutrons are especially responsive to structural and dynamical properties of matter on spatial and temporal scales ranging from atomic dimensions to micro-meters. These are scales characteristic of, for example, polymers, grains in metals and alloys, and living cells. Neutrons also provide unique probes of magnetic properties on similar scales. "Cold neutron time-of-flight spectroscopy" involves the study of minute energy changes in a beam of neutrons produced by interaction with a sample of matter. Such investigations enable the determination of many physical properties on the scales probed by the neutron beam. While U.S. investigators have been using such neutron-scattering studies for decades, most of the facilities needed for such investigations have been constructed in other nations. This is now beginning to change as the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) approaches completion at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. To prepare for the beginning of SNS studies in 2006, it is necessary to begin now to educate a new generation of scientists in the use of these techniques and to help scientists from disciplines that have not traditionally used such methods to learn how they may be valuably applied in new areas. It is also necessary to explore new types of instrumentation that can enable such investigations. This project is an international workshop specifically intended to help address these needs.