中国先进研究堆中子散射科学平台介绍

中子散射技术作为人类认知世界不可或缺的独特手段,多年来在诸多领域得到了广泛应用并成绩显著。文章以新建成的中国先进研究堆中子散射科学平台谱仪为例,较为详细地介绍了中子散射技术和谱仪的基本原理和特点,并对其未来的应用进行了展望。     

中国先进研究堆中子散射科学平台介绍

中子散射技术作为人类认知世界不可或缺的独特手段,多年来在诸多领域得到了广泛应用并成绩显著。文章以新建成的中国先进研究堆中子散射科学平台谱仪为例,较为详细地介绍了中子散射技术和谱仪的基本原理和特点,并对其未来的应用进行了展望。     

PEARL: the high pressure neutron powder diffractometer at ISIS

The PEARL instrument at ISIS has been designed for, and dedicated to, in situ studies of materials at high pressure, using the Paris–Edinburgh press. In recent years, upgrades to the instrument have led to improvements in data quality and the range of achievable pressures and temperatures; currently 0.5–28?GPa and 80–1400?K. This paper describes the technical characteristics of the instrument, its current capabilities, and gives a brief overview of the science that has been performed, using representative examples.     

中国先进研究堆中子科学平台发展现状及展望

依托中国先进研究堆(CARR)高通量中子源,建成了初具规模的中子科学平台,具备中子散射、中子成像和中子活化分析等多种研究技术。其中,中子散射技术包括中子衍射、小角中子散射及中子反射、非弹性中子散射,可以用于分析材料微观结构和动力学性质;热中子成像和冷中子成像可以用于材料内部缺陷等无损检测;中子活化分析系统可以用于物质内核素成分分析。目前已建成和在建中子谱仪共计19台,并初步配备了样品环境装置,为相关应用研究提供了条件基础,可为我国物理、化学、材料科学、生命科学、能源和环境等领域基础研究及工业应用提供重要技术支撑。CARR中子科学平台始终坚持合作共享对外开放的宗旨,将继续为国内外用户提供优质中子技术,服务基础科学前沿和国家重大创新需求研究。     

POLI-HEiDi: The new polarised neutron diffractometer at the hot source (SR9) at the FRM II—Project status

The project to upgrade the existing single-crystal diffractometer Heisses Einkristal Diffractometer (HEiDi) at FRM II with a polarised neutron option, enabling the investigation of magnetic ground states in single crystals has been ongoing since autumn 2004. After a detailed investigation of the possible options it has been decided to develop and rebuild the secondary spectrometer and keep the HEiDi monocromator. The new instrument has been named POLI-HEiDi as an abbreviation of Polarisation Investigator at HEiDi. Two different zero-field polarimeters will be made available for spherical neutron polarimetry, Cryoapad and MuPAD. Both, polarisation and analysis will be performed with polarised ³He spin filters. Several new and important components of the instrument have recently been commissioned. In this report we present these components and show how they fit with the design of the whole instrument.     

The high-resolution powder diffractometer at the high flux isotope reactor

Neutron powder diffraction is increasingly recognized as one of the most powerful techniques for studying the structural and magnetic properties of advanced materials. Despite the growing demand to study an ever-increasing array of interesting materials, there is only a handful of neutron diffractometers available to serve the US neutron scattering community. This article describes the new high-resolution powder diffractometer that has recently been installed at the High Flux Isotope Reactor in Oak Ridge. The instrument is designed to provide an optimum balance between high neutron flux and high resolution. Due to its versatility the diffractometer can be employed for a large variety of experiments, but it is particularly adapted for refinements of structures with large interplanar spacings as well as of complex magnetic structures. In addition to traditional crystal and magnetic structural refinements, studies of phase transitions, thermal expansion, texture analysis, and ab initio structure solution from powder data can be undertaken.     

Development of a polarized ~3He neutron spin filter based on spin exchange optical pumping at China Mianyang Research Reactor

正Spin-polarized~3 He gas is widely used in many research areas.It is used to search for new spin-dependent interactions beyond the standard model[1,2].It works as a target for electron scattering when studying the spin structure of neurons in high-energy and nLuclear physics[3].Also,it works as a neutron spin filter(NSF)for polarizing/analyzing neutron polarizations in scattering experiments[4-7].One of the ad-     

Improved resolution and powder neutron diffraction research on the KSN-2 diffractometer

The diffractometer KSN-2 placed at the 10 MW reactor VVRS-M in e near Prague provides the possibility for powder structure analysis of silicates. The characteristic parameters of the device are given.     

Resolution of a neutron powder diffractometer equipped with a focusing monochromator operating at a nonzero Fankuchen angle

Analytical expressions for characteristics of the shape of Bragg peaks are obtained by means of a neutron diffractometer equipped with a focusing monochromator operating at a nonzero Fankuchen angle. The formulas are concretized for the case of the use of diaphragms to position an observation region in the device. It is demonstrated that certain assumptions used in simulation calculations of the peak parameters are restricted.     

Investigation of multiple ultrasmall-angle neutron scattering with the aid of a double-crystal diffractometer

A method of multiple small-angle neutron scattering (MSANS), used to obtain information about inhomogeneities of substances, is considered. Experimental schemes and theory of a double-crystal diffractometer intended for measuring multiple small-angle neutron scattering are described. Methods used to approximate MSANS angular distributions at a low concentration of inhomogeneities and based on Moliére’s theory are reviewed. Their applicability is demonstrated for the examples ofMSANS spectra of samples from ferromagnetic iron-nickel alloys, aluminum powders, and high-T _c superconductor ceramic materials. Theoretical and experimental investigations of interference effects that manifest themselves in multiple small-angle neutron scattering on systems containing high concentrations of scatterers are reported.     

A possibility of parallel and anti-parallel diffraction measurements on neutron diffractometer employing bent perfect crystal monochromator at the monochromatic focusing condition

In a conventional diffractometer having single monochromator, only one position, parallel position, is used for the diffraction experiment (i.e. detection) because the resolution property of the other one, anti-parallel position, is very poor. However, a bent perfect crystal (BPC) monochromator at monochromatic focusing condition can provide a quite flat and equal resolution property at both parallel and anti-parallel positions and thus one can have a chance to use both sides for the diffraction experiment. From the data of the FWHM and the Δd/d measured on three diffraction geometries (symmetric, asymmetric compression and asymmetric expansion), we can conclude that the simultaneous diffraction measurement in both parallel and anti-parallel positions can be achieved.     

The analysis of a time-of-flight neutron diffractometer for amorphous materials: the structure of a molecule in a liquid

A comparison is made of the conventional method of using a continuous monochromatic slow neutron beam method of measuring the structure factor of an amorphous material (e.g. a liquid or a glass) and the method using a pulsed beam of heterochromatic neutrons and measurement of their time-of-flight. The Placzek [1] method has been adapted to the analysis of the time-of-flight experiment. The corrections required to convert the measured counting rates to static structure factors are explicitly evaluated for various detector laws and for any incident spectrum. It is shown that there is no particular virtue in equal-path time-of-flight arrangements. There is however a particular interest in a ‘1/v ²’ detector.

The method of analysis is of particular value for the determination of the interference part of the structure factor at high momentum transfer. Some recent experiments on molecular liquids (Clarke and Dore [2 (a] are analysed and it is shown that certain features of the structure of a molecule in the liquid state can be determined. This is a novel result and is of particular importance for liquid water. It is suggested that the D₂O molecule in liquid heavy water at 20°C has a form closer to that in the vapour than that found in ice.     

Application of the Monte Carlo methods and variational procedure for optimizing time-of-flight neutron diffractometer characteristics

Based on variational calculus, a procedure for the optimal approximation of detector surface of the time-of-flight neutron diffractometer has been suggested. The exact solution for a point sample and zero thickness detector has been obtained. Using the shape of the detector surface, an optimized Monte Carlo simulation has been performed for the parameters of the spectrometer depending on the sample size and detector thickness, its azimuthal and Bragg’s angular dimensions, and taking into account the neutron absorption in the sample and detector.     

Development of neutron detectors and neutron radiography at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Design and development of neutron detectors and R&D work in neutron radiography (NR) for non-destructive evaluation are important parts of the neutron beam and allied research programme of Solid State Physics Division (SSPD) of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The detectors fabricated in the division not only meet the in-house requirement of neutron spectrometers but also the need of other divisions in BARC, Department of Atomic Energy units and some universities and research institutes in India and abroad for a variety of applications. The NR facility set up by SSPD at Apsara reactor has been used for a variety of applications in nuclear, aerospace, defense and metallurgical industries. The work done in the development of neutron detectors and neutron radiography is reported in this article.      

Measurement of muon-induced neutron yield at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

Solar, terrestrial, and supernova neutrino experiments are subject to muon-induced radioactive background. The China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), with its unique advantage of a 2400 m rock coverage and long distance from nuclear power plants, is ideal for MeV-scale neutrino experiments. Using a 1-ton prototype detector of the Jinping Neutrino Experiment (JNE), we detected 343 high-energy cosmic-ray muons and (7.86\begin{document}$ \pm $\end{document}3.97) muon-induced neutrons from an 820.28-day dataset at the first phase of CJPL (CJPL-I). Based on the muon-induced neutrons, we measured the corresponding muon-induced neutron yield in a liquid scintillator to be \begin{document}$(3.44 \pm 1.86_{\rm stat.}\pm $\end{document}\begin{document}$ 0.76_{\rm syst.})\times 10^{-4}$\end{document} μ^?1g^?1cm² at an average muon energy of 340 GeV. We provided the first study for such neutron background at CJPL. A global fit including this measurement shows a power-law coefficient of (0.75\begin{document}$ \pm $\end{document}0.02) for the dependence of the neutron yield at the liquid scintillator on muon energy.     

Program of Fundamental-Interaction Research for the Ultracold-Neutron Source at the the WWR-M Reactor

The use of ultracold neutrons opens unique possibilities for studying fundamental interactions in particles physics. Searches for the neutron electric dipole moment are aimed at testing models of CP violation. A precise measurement of the neutron lifetime is of paramount importance for cosmology and astrophysics. Considerable advances in these realms can be made with the aid of a new ultracold-neutron (UCN) supersource presently under construction at Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute. With this source, it would be possible to obtain an UCN density approximately 100 times as high as that at currently the best UCN source at the high-flux reactor of the Institute Laue–Langevin (ILL, Grenoble, France). To date, the design and basic elements of the source have been prepared, tests of a full-scale source model have been performed, and the research program has been developed. It is planned to improve accuracy in measuring the neutron electric dipole moment by one order of magnitude to a level of 10^?27 to 10^?28e cm. This is of crucial importance for particle physics. The accuracy in measuring the neutron lifetime can also be improved by one order of magnitude. Finally, experiments that would seek neutron–antineutron oscillations by employing ultracold neutrons will become possible upon reaching an UCN density of 10³ to 10⁴ cm^?3. The current status of the source and the proposed research program are discussed.     

Study of the neutron flux generated at E-linac-driven neutron sources

We treat generic physical features of the production of neutrons from the high atomic number materials irradiated by the electron beam provided by linear electron accelerator. The bremsstrahlung of incident electrons inducing the photo-nuclear reactions is considered. The experimental data on photo-nuclear reactions are utilized to describe neutrons generating caused by the ??-radiation absorption. The generally received theoretical approaches are applied to explore the photo-neutrons energy distribution. The produced neutrons are primarily statistical, yet the direct neutrons share is noteworthy as well. The dependence of the neutron spectrum, mean neutron energy and total neutron yield on the energy and current of the electron beam and on the characteristics of irradiated samples is investigated. The analysis is plainly carried out in framework of the quantum electrodynamics and photo-nuclear physics, without having any recourse to the ??numerical Monte-Carlo simulations??. Our findings prove mainly to conform satisfactorily to the experimental measurements, so far as those are available for now.