The latest neutron news

The second call for applicants for the GNeuS fellowship programme opens on 1 November 2022.

Mag2Pol is an easy-to-use software for the analysis of X-ray and (polarized) neutron diffraction data. The latest release introduces magnetic space groups and magnetic superspace groups as well as many useful crystallographic tools. A series of online introductory courses starts on 10 October 2022.

NICOS is the link between the scientific instruments and visiting researchers during neutron experiments. The software, originally developed at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Center (MLZ), is now in demand worldwide and is increasingly expanding its user community.

Mobility is a fundamental ingredient of our present society and engages researchers from a wide range of disciplines worldwide. This year's MLZ Conference "Neutrons for Mobility" brings together experts from mobility and neutron research. From 31.05. - 03.06.2022, they will meet in Lenggries, Germany, to share experiences on neutron methods and discuss sustainability and energy efficiency in the transportation of the future. Participants can register as Early Bird until 31.03.2022.

Mag2Pol is an easy-to-use program for the analysis of X-ray and (polarized) neutron diffraction data. The latest release introduces Rietveld refinement and further tools for a user-friendly analysis of powder data.

Scientists from Jülich, together with colleagues from Germany, France and China, have discovered a new property in quantum materials offering great potential for novel technical applications. It took the 17-member team a considerable amount of dedicated effort to synthesize and characterize so-called two-dimensional materials, that could one day take on a wide variety of functions in atomically thin circuits based on the future technology of magnonics.

PaN-learning is a Photon and Neutron e-learning platform, which aims to bring free education and training to scientists and students.

Identifying, understanding, and predicting fundamental magnetic interactions in materials is an essential step toward their utilization in novel devices. One of these basic interactions is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), a type of coupling between neighbouring spins that tilts them slightly when they would otherwise tend to align. Although this DMI-induced canting is usually modest, it can lead to small net magnetic moments in “weak ferromagnets” and its direction has a significant impact on spintronic applications and topological materials. In a current paper in Physical Review X, an international team of researchers led by neutron scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University present polarized neutron diffraction (PND) as an efficient technique for determining the absolute direction of the DMI in bulk materials.

Research with neutrons provides unique insights into materials and phenomena that cannot be gained using other methods. From this autumn, a groundbreaking project will ensure the most effective use of the research potential of neutron methods. Funding has now been secured by Jülich neutron researchers together with partners from the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ). The aim of the Global Neutron Scientists (GNeuS) project is to train a new generation of highly skilled neutron scientists. The EU is funding the project over its five-year duration with € 3.3 million. The three leading partners are investing a further € 5 million. Within the framework of the project, 45 postdocs will for the first time be able to take part in a 24-month structured, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral international training programme.

In December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use across the EU, marking a crucial step forward in the fight against coronavirus. The development of this COVID-19 vaccine built on important research that was undertaken by Mainz-based biotechnology company, BioNTech, in collaboration with the Jülich Center for Neutron Science (JCNS). Using neutron scattering instruments operated by the JCNS at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Center in Garching, researchers investigated new approaches for the packaging and delivery of the mRNA. Such experiments provide important insights into the relationship between structural properties, biological activity and the vaccine production process, which will help to advance the development of RNA therapeutics and vaccines.

Find out more about how neutron scattering experiments at JCNS have contributed to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Mantid project provides a framework that supports high-performance computing and visualisation of materials science data. It has been created to manipulate and analyse neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy data, but could be applied to many other techniques. The framework is open source and supported on multiple target platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac).

Since January, Prof. Dr. Martin Müller has been the new director at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), succeeding Prof. Dr. Stephan Förster in the role. A materials physicist, he now represents the Helmholtz partners Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) in the Scientific Directorate of the MLZ. By rotation, Martin Müller will also be the spokesman of the directorate for a period of two years.

ANSTO contributed to a large international collaboration on advanced sodium ion batteries led by French researchers, which provides a direction for the design of high-performing sodium ion electrodes. Advanced sodium ion batteries could be used for large scale energy storage

At the end of 2019, the neutron source used for materials research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) was shut down as planned. Now the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) in Munich is taking over two scientific instruments from the HZB. The Federal Ministry of Science and Research (BMBF) is funding the relocation and adaptation with 5.62 million euros.

In the quest for advanced vehicles with higher energy efficiency and ultra-low emissions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are accelerating a research engine that gives scientists and engineers an unprecedented view inside the atomic-level workings of combustion engines in real time.

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Department of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen, have recently designed a porous polymer aiming for the capture of small molecules. Ammonia is a toxic gas widely used as a reagent in industrial processes or resulting from agricultural activities, causing irritation in the throat, eye damage and even death to humans. Being able to capture it with this new method could have huge health benefits. The result is now published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Batteries contain chemicals that store and release electrical energy at relatively slow rates compared to capacitors, which are often used in applications requiring power to be delivered rapidly.

The crystalline solid BaTiS3 (barium titanium sulfide) is terrible at conducting heat, and it turns out that a wayward titanium atom that exists in two places at the same time is to blame.

East Tennessee occupies a special place in nuclear history. In 1943, the world’s first continuously operating reactor began operating on land that would become the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Recent experiments jointly conducted at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) alongside three other laboratories around the world have revealed a surprisingly complex landscape of three different coexisting shapes in ^64^ Ni, a semi-magic nucleus thought to be purely spherical up to now.

Portuguese scientists have analyzed lichens from areas with traditional charcoal production for the first time with the help of the Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Lichens located near areas of charcoal production contained more than twice the concentration of phosphorus, which is generated during the combustion process.

They look like microscopic bottle brushes: Polymers with a spine and tufts of side arms. This molecular design gives them unusual abilities: For example, they can bind active ingredients and release them again when the temperature changes. With the help of neutrons at the MLZ, a research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now succeeded to unveil the changes in the internal structure in course of the process.

To better understand how the novel coronavirus behaves and how it can be stopped, scientists have completed a three-dimensional map that reveals the location of every atom in an enzyme molecule critical to SARS-CoV-2 reproduction.

Nine seconds. An eternity in some scientific experiments; an unimaginably small amount in the grand scheme of the universe. And just long enough to confound nuclear physicists studying the lifetime of the neutron.

Every year, up to 1,200 guest scientists from all over the world come to perform measurements at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II). Technical University Munich (TUM) and Forschungszentrum Jülich are now expanding the research capacities of the world’s most versatile neutron source with two new buildings providing a total of 4,550 square meters of floor space for laboratories, offices and workshops.

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is one of the most abundant organic compounds on Earth. Like other fossil fuels, it can be captured, stored, and used for heating buildings, powering natural gas vehicles, cooking food, and in many industrial processes.

Understanding, manipulating and exploiting the intriguing magnetic behaviour of a synthetic crystalline material called yttrium iron garnet (YIG) could open the door to the next, advanced generation of communication and information-processing devices.

The Analytical Research Infrastructures of Europe (ARIE) joins cross-border, multidisciplinary forces to offer Europe a strong and effective weapon against the current COVID-19 challenge and other potential viral and microbial threats. The MLZ is represented by Dr. Astrid Schneidewind from Forschungszentrum Jülich, who heads the working group “Adaptation to climate change, including societal transformation”.

During the second reactor cycle in 2020, the ThALES team and SCI/CS at ILL in Grenoble, France commissioned and tested a self-learning algorithm developed by the CAMERA team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). For the first time, an algorithm took control over the measurement process, without human intervention.

The ILL has now implemented the best neutron polariser in the world – it is more compact and cheaper than others because of its size and able to reach nearly 100% polarisation. It is set to be implemented at a number of facilities in the world to create better particle physics experiments to improve our understanding of the Universe.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), a technique that deposits highly targeted radiation into tumour cells, was first investigated as a cancer treatment back in the 1950s. But the field remains small, with only 1700 to 1800 patients treated to date worldwide. This may be about to change.

The cell membrane, the wall-like boundary between the cell interior and its outside environment, is primarily made up of two kinds of biomolecules: lipids and proteins. Different lipid species closely pack together to form a double layer, or “bilayer,” the membrane’s fundamental structure, while proteins are embedded within or attached to the bilayer.

Nanoscale vortices known as skyrmions can be created in many magnetic materials. For the first time, researchers at PSI have managed to create and identify antiferromagnetic skyrmions with a unique property: critical elements inside them are arranged in opposing directions. Scientists have succeeded in visualising this phenomenon using neutron scattering. Their discovery is a major step towards developing potential new applications, such as more efficient computers. The results of the research are published today in the journal Nature.

Materials scientists at Duke University have uncovered an atomic mechanism that makes certain thermoelectric materials incredibly efficient near high-temperature phase transitions. The information will help fill critical knowledge gaps in the computational modeling of such materials, potentially allowing researchers to discover new and better options for technologies that rely on transforming heat into electricity.

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the disease COVID-19, is infecting the world at a rapid rate. Understanding how this infection works at the molecular level could help experts discover ways to moderate or stop the spread.

The world of physics is in uproar as a Hungarian team is said to have discovered a yet unknown particle with puzzling properties. This would not only go beyond the current understanding of physics but also bring in reach a decades-long dream in physics: An approach to dark matter.

It is very hard to take a photo of a hummingbird flapping its wings 50 times per second. The exposure time has to be much shorter than the characteristic time scale of the wing beat, otherwise you will only see a colorful blur. A similar problem is encountered in solid-state physics, where the aim is to determine the magnetic properties of a material. The magnetic moment at a certain location can change very quickly. Therefore, researchers require measuring methods that are fast enough to resolve these fluctuations.

Slovenia’s National Institute of Chemistry (NIC) joins the world’s flagship neutron science facility, the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), as a Scientific Member, opening the door for Slovenia’s scientists and industry to cutting-edge research with neutrons, to drive innovation and tackle global challenges.

Scientists at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) use imaging techniques with neutrons to study specially bonded steel components. With their results they can improve the welding process for oil and gas pipelines and turbines.

Supercapacitors are up-and-coming, energy storage devices, often used to store energy from renewable energy sources like wind turbines where power is intermittent. They combine the best of batteries and traditional capacitors – like batteries, they are able to store lots of energy but are faster to charge and are not made from toxic materials, and like capacitors, charge is accumulated through the adsorption and desorption of ions from an electrolyte on the surface of an electrode, which also makes it lightweight and low cost. Getting this right is important as wind farms now provide 14% of the European Union’s power!

A UCLA-led team that discovered the first intrinsic ferromagnetic topological insulator – a quantum material that could revolutionize next-generation electronics – used neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help verify their finding.

Protein aggregation into amyloid superstructures is the molecular manifestation of a large variety of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Evidence is increasing that transient on-pathway oligomers are actually the toxic species, such that time-resolved monitoring of protein aggregation is highly desirable.

Pick your poison. It can be deadly for good reasons such as protecting crops from harmful insects or fighting parasite infection as medicine—or for evil as a weapon for bioterrorism. Or, in extremely diluted amounts, it can be used to enhance beauty.

When ultrafine magnetic particles are exposed to an external magnetic field, their magnetic core grows in a previously unexpected way. This was observed by a team of scientists from the University of Cologne (UoC), Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Institut Laue-Langevin, by employing polarized neutron scattering. The study ‘Field-Dependence of Magnetic Disorder in Nanoparticles’ has been published in the journal Physical Review X.

Aluminum blanks cannot be produced without residual stress. This means that the material warps during subsequent machining, which leads to inaccuracies. This is particularly problematic in delicate applications, such as aircraft construction. Neutron measurements at the MLZ showed that a new process is capable of reducing residual stresses almost completely.

The synthesis of stable and cost-effective new materials is paramount for the development of advanced technologies. At the same time, new and exciting insights can be made about material properties to better inform their development in the future. In a new study published in Carbon, researchers from the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) together with colleagues from Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, and research centres around Europe used instruments at the ILL to test a new carbon-based material, named D-96-7, and found exciting diffusion capabilities that may have applications in the world of sustainable energy provision.

Russia’s BP Konstantinova Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics has announced a tender for the development of a core design for the PIK research reactor in Gatchina. The aim of the project is to provide nuclear fuel for the PIK research reactor.

Hydrogen as an energy carrier will play an important role in the energy turnaround. But to produce it from water in a CO2-neutral way by electrolysis, it needs a lot of electricity. Neutrons help to study materials that can reduce the electricity consumption in this reaction.

He never liked to be the centre of attention and yet everything revolves around him one last time: Prof. Dr. Albert Steyerl, the inventor of the neutron turbine, died on 2 May at the age of 81.

Spin ice is a recently discovered state of matter, made of a macroscopic landscape of degenerate magnetic configurations due to the conjunction of strong Ising moments, frustrated network connectivity and ferromagnetic interactions.

Spinels are oxides with chemical formulas of the type AB2O4, where A is a divalent metal cation (positive ion), B is a trivalent metal cation, and O is oxygen. Spinels are valued for their beauty, which derives from the molecules’ spatial configurations, but spinels in which the trivalent cation B consists of the element chrome (Cr) are interesting for a reason that has nothing to do with aesthetics: They have magnetic properties with an abundance of potential technological applications.

The magnetic transition of troilite causes instabilities in the “space metal’s” structure that transforms it from a conductor to an insulator.

Scientists seek to use quantum materials – those that have correlated order at the subatomic level – for electronic devices, quantum computers, and superconductors. Quantum materials owe many of their properties to the physics that is occurring on the smallest scales, physics that is fully quantum mechanical.

As with HIV before it, Europe’s advanced neutron sources will make an essential contribution to the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

An international research team led by scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has recently discovered that high-entropy alloys (HEAs) exhibit exceptional mechanical properties at ultra-low temperatures due to the coexistence of multiple deformation mechanisms. Their discovery may hold the key to designing new structural materials for applications at low temperatures.

The Swiss Federal Council already elected him as PSI’s new Director last November. On 1 April, Christian Rüegg took over the helm at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in difficult times. The coronavirus pandemic is also a challenge for large organisations and employers like PSI. However, PSI's unique research facilities also offer opportunities for researching the virus and thus finding ways to combat it. Rüegg reveals his plans for the future of the Institute here.

Artwork does not last forever. This is particularly true for paintings, which are appreciated for their visual appearance, but inevitably deteriorate through physical processes such as the deposition of air-borne dust and soot, oxidation, and attack by free radicals. As a result, after 50 to 100 years, a once-colourful painting that was exposed to city air may have become uniformly brown, or black, or white, and its protective varnish may have become opaque, cracked and irregular.

Freeze drying has provided us with tasty dried fruits in muesli, long-life yoghurt cultures and many other important products. For the first time, using neutron beams from the Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) research neutron source, a team of scientists has now been able to show us the drying process in detail. The process engineering has thus gained a method of testing theoretical models in practice.

The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source receives around 350,000 euros in funding from the EU to continue its cooperation with large-scale Russian research institutions. The project CREMLINplus was officially launched in Hamburg at the end of February.

Artificial membranes have been used for small- and large-scale industrial processes since the middle of the twentieth century, yet their inefficiency can make some processes relatively slow and expensive. Scientists have long sought to develop synthetic membranes that could match the selectivity and high-speed transport offered by their natural counterparts.

An international team of researchers has discovered the hydrogen atoms in a metal hydride material are much more tightly spaced than had been predicted for decades—a feature that could possibly facilitate superconductivity at or near room temperature and pressure.

The ice we blend into our frozen drinks is a complicated compound, riddled with strange molecular inconsistencies scientists still struggle to understand. Exploring the physics behind the odd microstructure of water-ice may help us learn more about other seemingly unrelated advanced materials and their quantum states.

Drinkers will soon be cheering all the way to the bar thanks to a team of scientists who have taken a big step forward in solving the puzzle of how to make the perfect head of beer.

Lead researcher Dr Richard Campbell from The University of Manchester says his findings solve a long-standing mystery related to the lifetime of foams.

After an involuntary interruption of 10 months, the FRM II will again supply neutrons to its users from science, industry and medicine from today, 14 January.

A team from the University of Manchester, ISIS and Syngenta, have been using a combination of analytical techniques in order to study the efficiency of pesticides in the development of agri-sprays, which are commonly used in the agricultural industry.

Researchers led by the University of Manchester have designed a catalyst that converts biomass into fuel sources with remarkably high efficiency and offers new possibilities for manufacturing advanced renewable materials.

Bose-Einstein condensates are macroscopic quantum phases of matter which appear only under very particular conditions. Learning more about these phases of matter could help researchers develop a better understanding of fundamental quantum behaviors and possibly contribute to future quantum technology.

An international team of scientists, led by the University of Manchester, has developed a metal-organic framework, or MOF, material that provides a selective, fully reversible and repeatable capability to capture a toxic air pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, produced by combusting diesel and other fossil fuels.

Three neutron science research reactors in Europe have ceased operations in 2019. The League of advanced European Neutron Sources, LENS, and the European Neutron Scattering Association, ENSA, warn of a “neutron gap” that could impact scientific research across multiple fields in physics, materials science, chemistry, biology, medical science and engineering. Together, LENS and ENSA are working on a new vision to maintain Europe’s leading position in neutron science.

How pure do atoms vibrate in a metal? Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have investigated this question with the help of neutrons and theoretical calculations. Their results, which also have effects on the calculation of thermal conductivities, have now been published in the renowned journal Physical Review Letters.

A breakthrough in understanding how the quasi-particles known as magnetic monopoles behave could lead to the development of new technologies to replace electric charges.

The primary protein comprising silk is fibroin, and in the last century, it has been intensely studied for a variety of advanced applications beyond luxurious fabrics. Some of the most exciting current research is exploring the potential of this protein in a range of applications using neutrons. Research that is taking place at the Institut Laue-Langevin(ILL), the world’s flagship neutron science facility.

The accumulation of undesired biomaterials onto surfaces (‘biofouling’) is a problem in both industry and healthcare[1]. One of three main paths in marine 'anti-fouling' involves hydrophilic materials that bind water strongly (2).

One in three people cannot access clean drinking water [1]. Moringa seed extracts have been used of centuries to help purify water in regions where clean water is not available.

Researchers have used neutrons and X-rays to identify and characterise key proteins underlying the unique water purification properties of Moringa seeds. This information may allow better exploitation of this abundant resource.

From tires to clothes to shampoo, many ubiquitous products are made with polymers, large chain-like molecules made of smaller sub-units, called monomers, bonded together. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania, with primary support from the U.S. Department of Energy Biomolecular Materials Program, has created a new fundamental unit of polymers that could usher in a new era of materials discovery.

Techniques for observing concrete as it sets could facilitate the development of new cements.

An international team led by New Zealand food scientists at the Riddet Institute has used neutron scattering techniques to characterise the structure of an oil-in-water emulsion commonly used in foods, such as milk, cream, salad dressings and sauces.

Discovery yields new quantitative description of unusual behavior relevant to materials used in electronics, medicine, telecommunications, and more

ESS has officially inaugurated the data centre infrastructure that will play a vital role in processing the enormous amounts of research data from experiments being conducted here.

As of Tuesday 29th October 2019, the Orphée reactor in Saclay is no longer in operation.

The League of advanced European Neutron Sources (LENS) held its second General Assembly at Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) yesterday, preceded on Tuesday by meetings of its five working groups and the LENS Executive Board. The meetings brought the consortium’s operational working groups together with the leaders of the LENS member facilities to advance priority actions for the organisation in the months to come.

Faster image acquisition captures water exchange dynamics between roots and soil, could be useful for studying hydraulic fracturing and lithium batteries

Timely for the “International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements” which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Mendeleev's discovery of the periodic table, a European collaboration of chemists and physicists has published the first experimental determination of the ionization potential of the lanthanide element promethium, thus closing the last remaining gap for this fundamental atomic property in the Periodic Table.

ESS celebrated an important scientific milestone, the official handover of the Long Instrument Hall from construction partner, Skanska.

Scientists from The University of Sheffield are studying the layered structure of highly efficient organic thin films for cheaper, more environmentally friendly, solar energy technologies.

The unique properties of neutrons have enabled the study of potential fuel cell materials to understand the transport of oxygen within them and the contribution of ionic charge carriers to the total electrical conductivity.

It was ORNL’s world-class neutron sources that drew Johs to the laboratory. He had experienced how powerful a tool neutrons could be while working on his doctorate in biophysics at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where he studied the structure of apolipoprotein B100, a central component in low density lipoprotein, often called ‘bad cholesterol.’

By adding the new information collected via solution neutron scattering to other data from solution X-ray scattering and NMR spectroscopy, the NIST-Maryland group hopes to get a more comprehensive picture of DNA and RNA structures, as well as to expand avenues for defining molecular structures with neutron-based techniques.

ANSTO’s significant neutron scattering capabilities have been extended to fifteen advanced scientific instruments with the official opening of the Spatz neutron reflectometer.

Neutron experiments prove that multi-layered functional coatings can be prepared with a simple, single step procedure.

Marialucia Longo and Tobias Schrader at the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) based at FRM II in Garching, Germany have been designing and testing a crystallization chamber to grow large protein crystals.

Here, the samples are irradiated with cold neutrons. Following the neutron capture, the atomic nuclei of the chemical elements emit characteristic gamma rays.

Neutrons are good probes of materials like polymer gels, largely because of their sensitivity to hydrogen and its isotope, deuterium. Using a unique technique known as contrast matching, researchers replaced some of the hydrogen atoms in the gel with deuterium, which allowed specific structural components to be highlighted by the neutrons.

Graduate student Tong Chen spent weeks creating samples to test in neutron scattering beams. About 20 to 30 1-millimeter squares of iron selenide had to be aligned and glued in place atop each crystal of barium iron arsenide.

An ORNL-led team's observation of certain crystalline ice phases challenges accepted theories about super-cooled water and non-crystalline ice. Their findings, reported in the journal Nature, will also lead to better understanding of ice and its various phases found on other planets, moons and elsewhere in space.

American, Chinese and German scientists have found tiny distortions among the otherwise symmetrical atomic order of an iron pnictide superconductor with measurements at the triple axes spectrometer TRISP. They have thus come closer to superconductivity at higher temperatures.

American, Chinese and German scientists have found tiny distortions among the otherwise symmetrical atomic order of an iron pnictide superconductor with measurements at the triple axes spectrometer TRISP. They have thus come closer to superconductivity at higher temperatures.

Solar hydrogen can be produced from water and light in a process called photocatalytic water-splitting and could help to mitigate the impact of climate change, as no fossil fuels are used in its production. It then can be used as a renewable, environmentally friendly energy carrier, such as in hydrogen fuel cells. Nonetheless, it has proved a major scientific challenge to scale-up photocatalytic water-splitting to a stage where it could viably be used to produce hydrogen in enough quantities to revolutionise clean energy.

The team conducted quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) at ORNL and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy at PNNL. Used together, QENS and NMR spectroscopy can provide alternate perspectives on the way atoms reorient and spread throughout a solution.

Neutrons are ideal for this experiment because they offer researchers an excellent view of matter at the micron scale, which is perfect for investigating chocolate’s microstructure. And, because neutrons and x-rays complement each other, neutrons are a valuable tool for verifying the results obtained via x-ray scattering at Argonne.

"Lithium has a large absorption coefficient for neutrons, which means that neutrons passing through a material are highly sensitive to its lithium concentrations," said Ziyang Nie, lead author and graduate student in Koenig's group. "We demonstrated we could use neutron radiographs to track in situ lithiation in thin and thick metal oxide cathodes inside battery cells. Because neutrons are highly penetrating, we did not have to build custom cells for the analysis and were able to track the lithium across the entire active region containing both electrodes and electrolyte."

Exactly how that process works at the microscopic level is not well understood.

Answering this question could have a big impact on both plant ecology and agriculture, which is why professors Kathryn and Jonathan Morris from Xavier University are using neutron scattering at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to observe firsthand how these info-chemicals travel along tiny, pipe-like networks called fungal hyphae. Whether the messages move passively along the outside of those fungal networks or the fungi deliberately locate and absorb info-chemicals for transportation remains unclear.

"During this process of understanding what limits proton conduction in existing materials, we hope to also discover some new physics," Ganesh said. "It's all related to underlying atomistic mechanisms."

To validate the computational results, members of the team conducted a series of complementary experiments that employed pulsed laser deposition, scanning transmission electron microscopy, time-resolved Kelvin probe force microscopy, and atom probe tomography techniques at CNMS, as well as neutron scattering at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). CNMS, SNS, and the OLCF are all DOE Office of Science User Facilities located at ORNL.

Scientists have used neutron scattering to identify the secret to a metal-organic framework's (MOF) ability to efficiently convert chemicals, through a process called catalysis, into new substances. By probing a material known as MOF-808-SO4, the team discovered molecular behavior that causes the catalyst to become less acidic, which could slow down the catalytic process vital in making products such as plastics, fragrances, cosmetics, flame retardants and solvents.

He developed the world's first neutron time-of-flight diffractometer with a 150-meter-long neutron guide at the Atomic Egg in Garching and planned the instruments at the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz. Now Erich Steichele has died at the age of 80 near Bad Wörishofen.

Today, in a collaboration financed by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, the ILL and the Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg have taken a major stride towards the construction of a GaAs-based backscattering spectrometer. The result is a drop in energy resolution to several tens of nano-eV, nearly an order of magnitude better than could ever be attained with silicon crystals.

A conversion that happens inside a hydrogen molecule has been studied with an unprecedented level of detail, giving an insight into how this conversion can be maximised, with implications for neutron sources, engineering and industry.

Scientists from Delft University of Technology and Unilever have designed the first shear cell that can be used for testing food samples in both neutron and X-ray scattering experiments.

Researchers investigate new interactions between gold nanoparticles and cell membranes. Gold nanoparticles have a range of biomedical applications and are an important tool for drug delivery. Factors such as temperature and membrane charge are revealed to play a key role – findings that will help scientists better predict how gold nanoparticles behave within the body.

Precise measurements at the ILL of beta asymmetry rule out neutron decay into exotic dark matter particles.

Last year, scientists became rather excited when they thought they might have found evidence for the production of dark matter particles from experiments measuring the lifetime of the neutron – one of the two constituents of the atomic nucleus (the other is the proton). The neutron is generally stable when bound in atomic nuclei, but in the free state it lasts for just under 15 minutes. Two different kinds of neutron experiments had come up with considerably different lifetimes, and researchers thought that the anomaly might be due to the decay to a dark matter particle contributing to one type of experiment but not to the other.

For the past 25 years, scientists have been developing fluorescent proteins for bioimaging. Today their diversity covers nearly the whole visible spectrum, including blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, red, far-red and near infrared, allowing scientists to produce detailed images of various proteins’ localization within live cells using multicolour labelling.

A team of researchers at Institut Laue–Langevin (ILL) have used neutron scattering experiments to study a family of fluorescent proteins called Cyan Fluorescent Proteins (CFPs). “CFPs are very useful tools for bioimaging as they can be used to produce pictures of live cells - if the CFP is used as a fusion protein, it can reveal information about protein location, and if used as part of a biosensor, it can report on the evolution of various cell parameters (pH, calcium concentration…)” says Dr Judith Peters, scientist at ILL and professor at Université Grenoble Alpes.

In a landmark experiment at the Accelerator Laboratory of the Department of Physics (JYFL-ACCLAB) at University of Jyväskylä, a beam of the short-lived nuclide 85As was produced through nuclear fission. The research group was successful in testing the modular neutron spectrometer (MONSTER) at JYFL-ACCLAB, a new detector array built by an international collaboration with groups from CIEMAT (Spain), VECC (India), JYFL/HIP (Finland), IFIC (Spain), and UPC (Spain).

Direct observations of the structure and catalytic mechanism of a prototypical kinase enzyme—protein kinase A or PKA—will provide researchers and drug developers with significantly enhanced abilities to understand and treat fatal diseases and neurological disorders such as cancer, diabetes, and cystic fibrosis.

New clues about the molecular nature of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that affects memory, thinking skills and other mental abilities. One of the hallmarks of the disease is the presence of amyloid plaques which accumulate between nerve cells in the brain.

Researchers have used neutron experiments to explore the toxic effect of amyloid species that arise during amyloid plaque formation. They found that these species caused increased rigidity in membrane model systems and that certain proteins can inhibit both the aggregation process and its effect on the membrane. This led to a recent publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Investigations with neutrons settle scientific dispute about the structure of fluorine.

In toothpaste, Teflon, LEDs and medications, it shows its sunny side – but elemental fluorine is extremely aggressive and highly toxic. Attempts to determine the crystal structure of solid fluorine using X-rays ended with explosions 50 years ago. A research team has now clarified the actual structure of the fluorine using neutrons from the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II).

One of the broad research areas at PSI covers the topic of energy. Part of that, in turn, is the research for nuclear energy and safety. And one of the research groups based here is engaged with nuclear fuels. Johannes Bertsch is the head of this group and investigates the importance of so-called cladding tubes and their protective layers.

Scientists from Jülich together with colleagues from Japan have discovered how fuel cell membranes can be improved without the use of rare and expensive precious metals such as platinum. The anion-exchange membranes studied are a key component of certain polymer electrolyte fuel cells and serve to transfer charged particles (anions) while at the same time retaining gases such as oxygen or hydrogen.

Physicists from the University of Luxembourg, the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) and a team of research partners have demonstrated for the first time in a comprehensive study how different magnetic materials can be examined using small-angle neutron scattering. The scientists around Dr. Sebastian Mühlbauer (MLZ, Technical University of Munich) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Michels (University of Luxemburg) have published their insights in “Reviews of Modern Physics,” the respected science journal of the American Physical Society

An HZB team with neutron experiments at the BER II in Berlin and at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble has clarified what happens on the surface of the silicon anode during charging and which processes reduce the capacitance.

An international research team led by the University of Liverpool and McMaster University has made a significant breakthrough in the search for new states of matter.

In a study published in the journal Nature Physics, researchers show that the perovskite-related metal oxide, TbInO3, exhibits a quantum spin liquid state, a long-sought-after and unusual state of matter.

If you’re looking for a liquid to study with neutron scattering, lemon liqueur probably isn’t your first thought. But, for Dr. Leonardo Chiappisi, a researcher at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL, France) and the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), it was an obvious choice. “I’m originally from Sicily,” he jokes, “and limoncello is the best thing to help liven up a dinner.”

The BrightnESS2 project holds their kick-off meeting in Rome, Italy. Research organisations and facilities from 11 different countries have jointly set off on a three year journey to strengthen neutron scattering in Europe and create an ecosystem for sustainable science with ESS. They will work towards this goal under the banner of BrightnESS2, a project funded by Horizon 2020.

Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich and University College London have now demonstrated for the first time that despite high concentration levels, proteins do not clump together in nanocavities of porous silicon dioxide, but instead behave like a fluid.

The project PaNOSC, Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud is one of five cluster projects funded under the European H2020 programme. PaNOSC started on the 1st of December 2018, and will be officially launched on January 15th, 2019.

The construction of the Campus surrounding the European Spallation Source has started with a groundbreaking ceremony.

McStas 2.5 is the seventh release in the 2.x series and fixes various issues with McStas 2.4.1, plus many new developments. McStas 2.5 is also the 20th anniversary release of McStas – 1.0 was released in October 1998!

Instead of beach and sun, they preferred working with mathematical functions for neutron scattering data. Two pupils changed Catalonia for Bavaria for four weeks and performed a practical with Dr. Sebastian Busch at the MLZ in summer.

Scientists at the Chair of Functional Materials at Physics Department of TUM have been researching organic photovoltaic cells since several years.

In December 2017, the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) entered into an extended 5 month scheduled outage to perform a number of high-priority jobs needed to ensure safe and reliable operation at higher powers. Most notable were the replacement of the facility's inner reflector plug (IRP) and the accelerator's radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ).

Searching for solutions to supersonic fluid flow behavior, researchers from the University of Tennessee–Knoxville, and the US Air Force are using neutron radiography at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The team says a better understanding of spray dynamics will lead to improved fuel injector designs for the aeronautic and automotive industries as well as other spray-related applications used in agriculture, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing.

Engineers from Duke University are using cold (lower- energy) neutron scattering techniques at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to study the vibrational motions of atoms, called “phonons,” which is how heat propagates through thermoelectric materials.

Researchers have been using neutrons to explore the complex outer surfaces of the bacterium Escherichia Coli (E.coli), and they have revealed in the process, with great precision and detail, how such bacteria interact with their surroundings.

A combination of high performance computing and neutron scattering is a powerful tool of discovery for new materials that improve our quality of life and respect the environment.

Physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have recently succeeded in observing parity violation in ytterbium atoms with different numbers of neutrons. The initial effect of the measurements is to confirm the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics that atoms with different numbers of neutrons would demonstrate parity violation. The research was published in the Nature Physics journal.

High-level Swedish and Italian delegations, led by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy, came together to inaugurate the first major technical components to be commissioned at the European Spallation Source: the Accelerator’s Ion Source and LEBT.

The Data Treatment software download links involved in the SINE2020 project is now collated on just one page of the SINE2020.eu website so that you can easily find them when you need them.

Here you will find links to BornAgain, Mantid, MUESR, SasView and others.

To assess the current use of McStas, the McStas team have put together the a survey for users of our neutron Monte Carlo ray-tracing package.

Using the survey results, the team hope to gain insight and statistics on the McStas user community, where it is currently based, which operating systems and computing infrastructures are used, and to what satisfaction the package, support infrastructure and documentation is used. The survey should also give us a clear picture where to focus their future efforts.

We hope you will help by investing a few minutes in the survey:

"https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L38RXZG":https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L38RXZG

Thank you on behalf of the McStas team.

The SasView Collaboration is pleased to announce the latest release of its popular SAS data analysis package, SasView 4.2.0.

This version contains a number of infrastructural improvements, bug fixes, and documentation enhancements. Full details can be found in the Release notes. Download it now for free at www.sasview.org.

This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654000.

The third and final ESS Coldbox has arrived and been put into place at the ESS in Lund, Sweden. It weighs 38 tonnes and is the world's largest helium refrigerator within the 15-20K temperature range. It's home may now be in Sweden but it is an international effort having been procured by Swiss company Linde Kryotechnik and it was manufactured in Italy.

The new instrument KOMPASS at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum has seen its first neutrons on 29th May 2018, The name KOMPASS is an abbreviation for KOeln-Munich on Polarization Analysis Specialized Spectrometer.

The end of the SNI 2018 conference in Garching, Germany ended with the presentation of the poster prizes and the Wolfram Prandl Prize Lecture.

SNI 2018: News from the ESS.

Andreas Schreyer presented an update on the ESS construction. Read more to find out the progress of the project and how much concrete has been used so far!

Representatives of eight European research infrastructures signed the Charter of the League of advanced European Neutron Sources (LENS) at the International Conference of Research Infrastructures, ICRI2018, in Vienna today.

Neutron scattering has enabled scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich to detect the formation of droplets in supercritical carbon dioxide at high pressure.

For the first time a team of researchers have discovered with the help of neutrons at the instrument SANS-1 two different phases of magnetic skyrmions in a single material.

Jülich scientist Nikolaos Biniskos together with his colleagues in a Franco-German research team has gained new insights into the inverse magnetocaloric effect with the help of neutron scattering studies.

IFE's Board of Directors has decided to permanently close the Halden Reactor and to start decommissioning the reactor.

The deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to June 25, 2018!

It is already known that dinosaurs lay eggs. The fact that the offspring of the same mother hatch at different times from the eggs, was observed so far only in modern birds. For the first time, measurements at FRM II could prove that already their ancestors, the dinosaurs, hatched asynchronously.

The world’s highest-performance neutron source for research, FRM II of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), will have a new Scientific Director as of April 1st. With the appointment of Professor Peter Müller-Buschbaum, an internationally renowned researcher has been appointed to succeed Winfried Petry.

A new video from the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science introduces the novel detector system Solid State Neutron Detector, known as SoNDe.

The Workshop will take place at Forschungszentrum Jülich in the main lecture hall. Here we will have oral presentations, a poster session and an exhibition.

Researchers from MLZ (Forschungszentrum Jülich) investigated the crystallization of the protein lysozyme in an experiment at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL).

A research group conducts high pressure neutron diffraction experiments that help develop novel materials.

Prof. Andreas Schreyer, the Director of Science at ESS visited the JEEP II-reactor at Kjeller, Norway on January the 23rd, underlining the importance of the facility.

Dr. Eddy Lelièvre-Berna is the new Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Neutron Research.

Smart photovoltaic windows represent a promising green technology featuring tunable transparency and electrical power generation under external stimuli to control the light transmission and manage the solar energy.

Researchers have observed the structure of a functional p7 protein within its native environment for the first time using reflected neutrons. The observed mechanisms will help future drug development.

By exploiting the properties of neutrons to probe electrons in a metal, a team of researchers has gained new insight into the behavior of correlated electron systems.

Scientists from JGU have been able to increase the ultracold neutron yield of their source by a factor of 3.5.

A team of researchers from the University of South Carolina is using neutrons to develop more durable and efficient materials called waste forms for safely storing hazardous substances.

researchers have discovered the atomic mechanisms that give the unusual material yttrium manganite (YMnO3) its rare electromagnetic properties.

Neutron scattering was used for studying magnetic behavior in a material called alpha-ruthenium trichloride. The results may have implications for quantum computing.

ORNL scientists used neutrons to understand how water flows through fractured rock. Their results help improve models for drilling, hydraulic fracturing and underground storage of carbon dioxide

An international team of physicists has developed a breakthrough method to calculate the exact point at which atomic nuclei become unstable.

Nicholas Leister and his supervisor Dr. Xiaosong Li examined different meteorites in their elemental composition after the samples had previously been irradiated at the FRMII.

A portrait about Eugene Mamontov who is the lead instrument scientist for BASIS, the backscattering, crystal-analyzer spectrometer at the SNS that is particularly good at deciphering the dynamics of water in various systems.

Neutron reflectometry has been used to improve our fundamental understanding of corrosion and corrosion inhibitors.

Researchers characterize the spin couplings in the prototypical single-molecule magnet Mn[~12~] using an advanced neutron scattering technique.

Beam generator puts country in elite company for doing experiments in materials science and other fields.

Memorial University physicists are using neutron beams to shed light on the molecular behaviours that are fundamental to the inner workings of living cells.

Neutron diffraction experiments at the ILL provide deeper understanding of materials with structures comprising multiple metal elements.

Quasielastic neutron scattering experiments under a high pressure of 0.8 GPa were conducted at ILL to measure the translational diffusion of methane molecules at the interface of clathrate structures I and II.

A Neutron study conducted at ILL gives a renewed picture of the Lindemann criterion.

A research team at the HZB has precisely characterised for the first time the various types of defects in kesterite semiconductors.

Researchers from Jülich, Garching, Georgia, and France have developed a new method in neutron research with which any deformation of cell membranes can be detected better than before.

J-PARC is back to its user operation since mid-October after three months of summer shutdown for maintenance.

The triple axis spectrometer FLEXX at BER II provides a new detector module for user service.

Since 1990 the Bombannes school series introduces, on a fundamental level, the current methodology of static and dynamic scattering techniques and their applicaiton to soft matter systems.

Ultra-cold neutrons are used as an ideal tool for studying gravity at the microscopic level and fundamental neutron optics.

The 49th IFF Spring School – Physics of Life will be held February 26 – March 9 2018 in Jülich, Germany.

Oil and gas pipeline safety standard practices have been influenced by a team of researchers, who use neutron beams to better understand stress and corrosion in pipeline steel.

The NIST Bureau of Standards Reactor is celebrating its 50th anniversary of going critical on December 7, 2017.

One University of Calgary geoscientist is demonstrating how to use neutron beams to determine the manner in which the pores in shale deposits store oil and gas.

You cannot solve your problem with conventional lab equipment?

From 8 to 9 March 2018, SYNERGI 2018 will bring together industrial researchers and scientists from large-scale facilities at the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam. These unique facilities offer a deep insight into materials of all types.

An international team of reserchers is exploring one way to make tumour-destroying heat treatment more applicable to different kinds of tumours.

A new study sheds light on a unique enzyme that could provide an eco-friendly treatment for chlorite-contaminated water supplies and improve water quality worldwide.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has discovered and described the existence of a unique disordered electron spin state in a metal that may provide a unique pathway to finding and studying frustrated magnets.

A workhorse catalyst of vehicle exhaust systems—an “oxygen sponge” that can soak up oxygen from air and store it for later use in oxidation reactions—may also be a “hydrogen sponge.”

75 scientists, engineers and technicians from 10 countries and representatives from 10 sponsoring companies attended the International Workshop for Sample Environment at Scattering Facilities 2016.

Using the MaNDi instrument, scientists at ORNL hope to better understand how bacteria containing enzymes called beta-lactamases resist the beta-lactam class of antibiotics.

The hour of birth of the German neutron research:

The Atomic Egg, the first German research reactor, started operating 60 years ago in Garching. Thereby, irreplaceable insights into matter were made possible.

Findings on Perylene structure open new routes for the design of organic electronics.

Evidence has been found that contradicts the basic theory of the exact role of zinc within boromolybdate glasses.

The structure of old fired-clay bricks has been investigated with neutrons.

The combination of several techniques helped define the raw materials and pigments used for the production and decoration of archaeological pottery fragments from the medieval ruins of the Agsu archaeological site in Azerbaijan.

Nordic and Baltic states have come together to increase competence in neutron scattering among young researchers and raise the number of neutron users in the region.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have performed neutron structural analysis of a vitamin B6-dependent protein, potentially opening avenues for new antibiotics and drugs.

Jonathan Taylor reviews the data-management challenges facing neutron sources and other large-scale research facilities as they strive to maximize the scientific and economic impact of their work

Neutrons are an exceptional resource for probing the atomic properties of materials, leading to advancements in materials science, biology, chemistry, and physics—and bringing us more effective drugs and medical treatments, 3D-printed tools and machinery, biofuels, and better batteries and energy storage technologies.

Casper Rutjes and Ute Ebert trace how our understanding of thunderstorm physics has evolved in recent decades and explain how neutron measurements could produce fresh insights

The link between thunderstorm and neutron science is not an obvious one...

It's the birthday of James Chadwick, who discovered the neutron in 1932.

A Simon Fraser University chemist is making breakthroughs in understanding the materials that play a major role in the future of the Internet of Things.

Experiments performed at the Institut Laue-Langevin, using both ultracold neutrons at the instrument PF2 and neutron interferometry at S18, play a major role in testing the existence of chameleon fields.

Neutron experiments conducted by the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and CNRS researchers lead to a novel picture of thermal conductivity in complex materials.

Using cold neutrons it is possible to examine the 3D internal structure of fossil teeth.

Worldwide, more than 30 million medical examinations are conducted annually with technetium-99m. A new film shows the status of the upgrading at the FRM II towards the production of its mother isotope molybdenum-99.

Peter Littlewood, former director of the Argonne National Laboratory, was invited to visit the Chinese Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) and attended the CSNS Academic Forum on September 18.

Mushroom pickers never reveal their places of discovery and neither for Dr. Matthias Rossbach. Instead, they have sent him the dried mushrooms they collected in Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg, for scientific research.

The ¥2.2bn ($330m) China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) has produced its first neutrons.

From a total of 15 election candidates Astrid Schneidewind (FZ Jülich) is the new KFN chairman. Markus Braden (University of Cologne) is the new deputy chairman.

Scientists are looking for an alternative superalloy as a gas turbine material. Lukas Karge studied a hot candidate for his PhD thesis with Dr. habil. Ralph Gilles at the MLZ.

Just how lupines draw water approaching their roots in soil has now for the first time been observed in three dimensions by a University of Potsdam team at the HZB-BER II neutron source in Berlin.

The correlation between spot welding and residual stress in boron steel was experimentally determined for the first time with neutron diffraction experiments conducted at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL).

Scientists from EPFL and PSI have shown experimentally, for the first time, a quantum phase transition in strontium copper borate.

Thanks to a new material developed by researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and Empa, electrolysers are likely to become cheaper and more efficient in the future.

Recently, Michael Laaß could clarify the possible function of an enigmatic impression in the braincase of the forerunners of mammals by means of neutron tomography at the instrument ANTARES of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum.

In 1999, PSI researchers founded the spin-off firm SwissNeutronics. Today the company sells high-precision components to research institutions all over the world.

With sponsorship from Tesla Motors, one ‘Gold medal’ Canadian scientist is using neutron beams in the quest to reduce the cost of energy storage technologies.

Neutron scattering has revealed in unprecedented detail new insights into the exotic magnetic behavior of a material that, with a fuller understanding, could pave the way for quantum calculations.

Neutron reflectivity, alongside other imaging methods, has been used to study the properties of ultrathin Pt/Co/Pt films.

Neutrons assist the exploration of a completely new set of topological insulating materials.

Neutrons where used to test the Phonon-Liquid Electron-Crystal (PLEC) approach as a step towards developing better thermoelectric materials.

The instrument BioDiff at the MLZ has located with highest accuracy hydrogen atoms of various inhibitors when binding to the enzyme trypsin.

After a successful year of promotion of neutron scattering techniques, the LAHN team organised the first Argentinean Meeting on Neutron Scattering (TN2017), held in Buenos Aires on March 15-17th.

The Walter Haelg Prize 2017 has been awarded to Professor Juan Colmenero from the University of the Basque Country, in Spain.

Distortions of two valuable wooden figures from the beginning of the 18th century were examined with fast neutrons on the instrument NECTAR of the MLZ in Garching.

McStas 2.4 has been released and is ready for download.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have developed a new chemical process that allows the efficient conversion of methane to methanol.

For 20 years researchers from a range of disciplines have been using the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI for their investigations.

The NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) is sad to announce the death of Dr. John J. Rush (Jack) on April 20, 2017.

ESS interviews team members at Daresbury Lab in England. The STFC facility is responsible for series production and testing of the 84 high-beta cavities of the European Spallation Source’s superconducting Accelerator.

Ricardo Garcia Soto a Chilean science author and director of television films made a short about what to see at the FRM II.

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering has confirmed that the strength of a type of supramolecular hydrogel can be increased by heating.

More than 6 million Euros has been invested by the European Commission in the development of new nuclear fuel.

An abrupt thermal spin transition has been investigated with a specially designed optical setup for neutron scattering to address the magnetic properties of the light-induced HS stat

The Walter Hälg Prize is awarded biennially to a European scientist for outstanding, coherent work in neutron scattering

Cobalt Defect Clusters Embedded in Titanium Oxide Films were studied with low-angle polarized neutron scattering with specular reflected beams.

The SINE2020 project offers the opportunity to use Europe’s leading neutron facilities for your company’s R&D. Apply by June 30th 2017!

The European Spallation Source was the site of a roundtable discussion featuring King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the Governor General of Canada, and the research ministers of the two nations. The focus was on collaboration between Canada’s and Sweden’s science, industry and research infrastructures.

Measurements on the Pelican time-of-flight spectrometer have contributed to a better understanding of the molecular geometry and magnetic properties of a prospective material for quantum computing.

IKON12. A record number of participants at the 12th meeting for In-Kind Contributions for Neutron Science at ESS demonstrated the expanding scale and complexity of the instrument projects as they move through preliminary engineering design.

MAX4ESSFUN. Mucus protects many of our body’s vital functions against dehydration. Understanding the structure and function of this biological material will give researchers more tools to prevent and treat common diseases like cystic fibrosis and asthma.

The Modulator. Carlos Martins and his ESS power converters team, with the help of Lund University researchers, have successfully brought a new high-voltage modulator design to series production. The cost savings and reduced footprint for these large machines mean a paradigm shift for linac power supply worldwide.

Within the SINE2020 project we have setup an European Deuteration Network (DEUNET) that aims to increase the availability and accessibility of complex deuterated molecules to the European neutron scattering community. The existing capabilities of the laboratories at ISIS, ILL and FZJ which currently produce deuterated materials for neutron scattering will be complemented by an additional laboratory at ESS. Furthermore, the organisation of the facilities into a network leverages the unique specialisations of each of the laboratories.

Neutron spectroscopy has enabled an international team to unravel quantum entanglement in a dimer of complex molecular qubits.

Rechargeable lithium batteries with cathodes comprising nickel, manganese, and cobalt, are viewed as the most potent today. But they, too, have a limited lifespan. Why this happens and what can be done to alleviate the ensuing gradual loss of capacity has now been investigated in detail by a team of scientists using positrons at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Delegates from the 15 European Spallation Source member and observer nations held a one-day strategy meeting in Lund on Thursday. Plans for finalising the construction and moving into operations, as well as principles for association of new members were up for discussion.

Release of SpinW3, an updated computational tool for simulating spin waves.

This release contains the long awaited ability to visualise non orthogonal crystal systems correctly in the slice viewer.

The first of January 2017, the “Fédération Française de Diffusion Neutronique” (French Federation of Neutron Scattering) has been created. It federates the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (LLB) in Saclay and the CEA/INAC/MEM and Institut NEEL neutron groups in Grenoble.

The newly built time of flight spectrometre NEAT has welcomed its first users: Jie Ma from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and his colleague Zhilun Lu examined magnetic excitations in crystalline samples and enjoyed fast data rate and high flexibility of instrumental configurations. NEAT team is now looking forward to further new studies and user experiments!

The SINE2020 work-package on Sample Environment met on January 25-26 in Lund to present and discuss updates on the WP tasks.

A phenomenon of microphase separation, which appears as a novel fascinating confinement effect for fully miscible binary liquids.

Proposals for beam time at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) will be accepted via the web-based proposal system until NOON EASTERN TIME, Wednesday, April 12, 2017. This call is for experiments anticipated to run July through December 2017.

Proposals at the OPAL Neutron Beam Facility (both cold- and thermal-neutron instruments) and National Deuteration Facility. Deadline 15 March 2017, for beam time between July and December 2017.

You are invited to apply for time on the neutron beam instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). Due to facility maintenance about ¾ of the usual time given through proposals will be allocated in this proposal round. The deadline for all proposals is Tuesday, March 14, 2017.

A postdoc from the Technical University of Denmark has performed a neutron imaging experiment at J-PARC in Japan using EU Interregional funds. Malgorzata Makowska studied how to optimise solid-oxide fuel cells, a sustainable technology in use by industry and consumers. Scientists from DTU and ESS provided supervision and expertise.

In two videos Maurice Goldhaber and Laurence Passell tell about the history of reactors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

ESS and J-PARC. Naohito Saito, Director of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, visited ESS and MAX IV on Monday to exchange knowledge and discuss their upcoming collaboration workshop with ESS and Swedish universities.

For the first time, the call for experiments is made by the 2FDN for all the beam time on LLB instruments and the four French CRGs at the ILL. Deadline March 29th at 23:59 French time.

For the first time ever, this study showed ‘quantum tunnelling’ in these systems, allowing the H atoms bound to C atoms to explore relatively long distances at temperatures as low as those in interstitial clouds.

Learn about neutron scattering and how you can benefit from using neutrons on 8 – 12 May 2017 at the 11th Central European Training School on neutron techniques in Budapest. Apply by March 15. Grants available.

The deadline for submitting your HZB Beamtime Applications for projects to be carried out in the second half year 2017 is 1 MARCH 2017, 23:59 (CET).

CERIC-ERIC is launching its seventh call for proposals, with a two-steps deadline option: March 1 and March 30.

Flora Meilleur is a structural biologist – she is interested in the structure of biomolecules, specifically of proteins. Since 2007 she held a joint faculty position between the Oak Ridge Neutron Sciences Directorate and North Carolina State University (NCSU). In July 2015, she was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure.

ANSTO has collaborated on research with Macquarie University to clarify the origin of microstructures in metamorphic rock found deep in the Earth’s crust and mantle impacted by mineral-bearing fluids.

A novel approach was developed combining time-resolved small angle neutron scattering with online-fluorescence spectroscopy in order to monitor the PAN unfoldase from the deep-sea Methanocaldococcus jannaschii organism and a Green Fluorescent Protein model substrate.

The fellowship is intended to attract visiting scholars to LANSCE in the fields of nuclear science, materials science, defense science and accelerator technology.

Scientists as individuals or on behalf of a Division, Section or Group

may now submit nominations for the 2017 Walter Hälg Prize of the

European Neutron Scattering Association (ENSA).

The IV course of the Erice School “NEUTRON SCIENCE AND INSTRUMENTATION” will be on 1 – 8 July 2017. Registrations close on May 10.

There's a new project on our 'Projects' page. ACCELERATE is a Horizon 2020 project, supporting the long-term sustainability of large scale research infrastructures.

One of the world’s largest producers of surfactants considers the time spent at ILL using neutrons, through SINE2020, invaluable for its R&D activities.

Lessons in Experimental Quantum Mechanics, Wave-Particle Duality, and Entanglement

How has science changed our lives? How will neutrons help us meet the challenges of the future? And what's it like to work in an international science facility under construction? This talk will take you on a trip through archaeology, life science and magnetism, and end up at a huge construction site.

The Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017. A new book tells about ILL's 50 years of service to science and society. It is available in the 3 official languages.

“It is really a treasure chest that is being built here. I’m convinced that the local hosts will be positively surprised by what will pop up out of this during its 40-year lifetime, provided it continues to be supported in the same spirit as it so far has been.”

About 250 students and early career scientists have already benefited from SINE2020 funding to eight introductory neutron and muon schools.

Grants will also be available for advanced schools soon.

Inelastic neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, infrared measurements, UV-spectroscopy and electrochemical studies were used to study the properties and quantum mechanics of HF@C60.

A letter published in Physical Review Letters, by a group of scientists of the Atominstitut - Institute of Atomic & Subatomic Physics of TU Wien (Austria), after an experiment on S18 at ILL.

The next deadline for the submission of beam time requests for the Swiss spallation neutron source SINQ will be February 20, 2017, midnight.

Scientists are using neutrons to study the fundamental role carbon dioxide plays in Earth’s carbon cycle, especially in the composition of carbon reservoirs in the deep earth and the evolution of the carbon cycle over time.

Scientific discovery can come from anywhere, but few researchers can say the answers to their questions would come from the pea-sized bones in the head of a six-foot-long, 200-pound prehistoric freshwater fish.

The ICNS 2017 Online Submission System is now open.

Australia’s state-of-the-art multi-purpose nuclear reactor has operated for more than 300 days at full power for a second consecutive year with over 99% reliability.

Students can now apply for the Master Program. The application deadlines are different for the country of origin: for non-EU students, they will end on 31 January 2017; EU students must apply until 28 February 2017. All those who do not need a scholarship will have time until 15 May 2017.

The ILL is launching an open call for Expressions of Interest for new instrumentation as part of Phase 2 of the Endurance Upgrade Programme.

The upcoming proposal submission deadline for neutron scattering experiments at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) is Tuesday, 14 February 2017.

There's a new link on our History pages. A film shows the early construction at the ISIS facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, in the UK. The film was made in the summer of 1985, in preparation for the official opening in October 1985 of the facility by Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister.

During the 8th International Topical Meeting on Neutron Radiography held in Beijing this year, it was decided that Argentina will host the next meeting.

The Dutch Permanent Committee for Large-Scale Scientific Infrastructures announced today that ESS has been included in the National Roadmap. The strategic document brings the Netherlands one step closer to full membership in the European Spallation Source ERIC.

The European Spallation Source is moving into exciting new territory: work in Conventional Facilities is approaching 40 percent complete and significant technical installations begin this month.

Looking ahead to a time when the ESS facility is fully operational, 17 external experts provided essential input for baselining cost projections.

There is a strong suspicion that Helicobacter pylori is linked to the development of stomach cancer. Now an international team of researchers led by Prof. Donald R. Ronning (University of Toledo, USA) used neutrons to unlock the secret to the functionality of an important enzyme in the bacterium's metabolism. This could be used as a point of attack for new medications. Measurements made at Oak Ridge and FRM II.

The influence of interactions in high protein concentrations is extremely difficult to quantify experimentally. Neutron scattering experiments performed among other places at the J-NSE instrument at MLZ, and computer simulations carried out in Jülich have now made studies possible in physiological concentrations.

Water, a simple molecule but a complex behaviour. Neutron scattering demonstrate that there are two dynamic processes with quite different temperature dependences. A possible clue to answer open questions about low temperature liquid water.

A new material retains its special magnetic properties even at room temperature.

Slides and videos of the talks given at the workshop are now available online. The workshop focused on requirements/developments for a (bidirectional) Monte Carlo variance reduction method applied to neutron beamline transport systems.

The future Argentine Neutron Source, LAHN: Laboratorio Argentino de Haces de Neutrones, has now a dedicated page on our website.

Collaborative project results in the construction of a second UCN source at the TRIGA research reactor in Mainz / Blueprint for Munich-based high-efficiency source.

Anyone who has ever looked out of the window during an intercontinental flight has probably already seen it: cirri, the ice clouds in the upper troposphere (8-12 km high) look like rattled cotton. But also in the lower stratosphere (15-20 km altitude) there are ice clouds, so-called polar stratospheric clouds (abbr. PSCs).

An important increase of microhardness value for (Pb,Cd)Te was directly confirmed by results of nanoindentation measurements performed for a few samples with various chemical composition.

A team launched the first version of Monte Carlo Particle Lists. This new, open source format makes it simpler to interchange particle-state information data between popular Monte Carlo simulation packages, making the work of developers more efficient.

In partnership with GKN Powder Metallurgy, Dalhousie University researchers are using neutron beams in studies aimed at opening up the automotive market to more products made from aluminum powders—a promising alternative to the heavier steel components used in the industry today.

Tapping into MagLab expertise on superconductors and cryogenics, a research team built a novel neutron scattering device that is more efficient and produces better data than previous techniques.

The Canadian Neutron Beam Centre (CNBC) plans to provide neutrons until the end of March 2018, and to provide assistance until March 2019 to complete data analysis and publish results. You are invited to propose challenging experiments, encourage young researchers to visit and learn everything they can from our experts.

A team is working on improving the fitting of neutron and muon data in Mantid. They developed a framework for comparing fitting minimizers targeted to serve Mantid users, but whose results are transferrable to other neutron and muon data treatment software.

Johannes Nußbickel follows Dr. Klaus Seebach as Managing Director at the FRM II neutron source in Germany.

British scientists have elucidated the structure of a vital enzyme with the help of neutrons. This involved the presence of a hydrogen atom. Their results are now published in Nature Communications.

Scientists make a surprising discovery. The steepness of the temperature dependence (fragility) of the viscosity that is determined by chain relaxation follows the correlations at all molecular weights.

Dr. Sultan Demirdis works in the field of neutron research at Forschungszentrum Jülich. In a video, she talks about how she became a neutron scientist and why she likes working at the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science.

The SasView Development Team is pleased to announce the release of SasView 4.0.1.

One week of beam time at the PUMA instrument have been enough for international research teams from Beijing and the USA to prove theoretical calculations experimentally. The results bring the global community of superconductors a good deal, because this small, but very important puzzle part has confirmed a theory.

A SINE2020 team is working on developing Resistive Plate Chambers for neutron detectors.

Alexandros Koutsioumpas from Forschungszentrum Jülich has studied the structure of complex lipid membranes at the neutron reflectometer MARIA.

The next call will be launched in January 2017 with a proposal submission deadline on February 20, 2017, midnight for all instruments, see list below. Those proposals will request for beamtime during the period May - October 2017.

This article showcases work conducted at neutron sources around the globe that confirmed the predictions of the winners of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics or that builds upon their theories.

Registration is now open for our MATRAC 2 Winter School 'Application of Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation in Materials Science with special focus on Fundamental Aspects of Materials' to be held in Utting/Ammersee and Garching/Munich, Germany, February 27 to March 3, 2017.

The website now hosts "Women in Science" pages featuring interviews with women who work on neutron scattering.

John Womersley begun work as Director General of the European Spallation Source ERIC on November 1. On Friday, outgoing DG Jim Yeck delivered a message of heartfelt gratitude to ESS staff, management team, and governance.

In December 2015, Dr. Thorsten Lauer was still working as a postdoc and Thorsten Zechlau as a graduate student at the FRM II. Lauer and Zechlau could convince an investor with their knowledge and their enthusiasm for neutron optics to support the founding of a company on 1 January 2016. "We would not have dreamed of that a year ago", the two founders say.

Neutron beams reveal the molecular mechanisms behind a new technology that could reduce the risk of complications and death from heart bypass surgery and dialysis. The same technology might soon help more women survive ovarian cancer.

Jülich, 26 October 2016 - An international research team has proved the existence of spin-spirals in a quantum liquid. They emerge at low temperatures from the magnetic moments ("spins") of manganese scandium thiospinel single crystals (MnSc2S4). Neighbouring spins fluctuate here collectively as spirals, but when spatial distances are involved, they do not take on any particular order, just as water molecules will only form structures with neighbouring water molecules. Proof of this so-called "spiral spin-liquid" was achieved with the help of polarized diffuse neutron scattering on an instrument of the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at its outstation at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum.

This interactive brochure illustrates the contribution of the Neutron and Muon consortium to advancing science in 2012-2016. It focus on the impact of the NMI3 activities on both science and society.

The Helsinki University Hospital (HUH) and Neutron Therapeutics have entered into an agreement whereby a novel accelerator-based neutron source for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) will be installed at the HUH. BNCT is used to treat, for instance, locally advanced head and neck cancers.

For the first time, a team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used neutron beams to create holograms of large solid objects, revealing details about their interiors in ways that ordinary laser light-based visual holograms cannot.

Mechanical engineers of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have observed battery cells during their filling with the help of neutron radiography - and have learned important lessons for the production process.

An international team of scientists has examined high-temperature superconductors at the instrument PANDA. Their resulsts have been published in Nature Communications.

14 young participants attended the Italian SISN Summer School in Perugia last September.

This release contains the much requested improvements to project saving, so now all of the state of your graphs, tables, matrices, even the instrument view, sliceviewer and VSI will reload just as you saved it.

Helmut Schober became the new ILL Director, Mark Johnson the new Science Director and British Associate Director, and Alexandre Durand the new Head of Administration.

Neutron-scattering experiments explore origins of high-temp superconductivity. The results were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Stimulating gathering of neutron scientists at the Joint JCNS Workshop & Flipper 2016 in Tutzing, Germany.

After the first call for industrial experiments, five companies will benefit from free neutron test measurements for their R&D activities.

Would you like to use neutrons for advanced characterization of your material or component, for free? You’re still in time!

Please spread the word! Industrial companies can apply for free experiments at neutron research facilities. The deadline is Jan 21th 2017. Probing matter with neutrons is non-destructive. Feel free to contact us for further information.

Next proposal round at ISIS closing date: 16 October 2016, 23:00 GMT.

This call for proposals covers beamtime that will be allocated from September 2016 to February 2017.

EPFL scientists discovered a material that can produce stable skyrmions in a wide range of temperatures, making it ideal for building devices.

The SINE2020 project welcomes Martin Böhm from the Institute Laue-Langevin as new Coordinator.

The Italian Society of Neutron Spectroscopy organised the Giornate Didattiche School on June 12-20, 2016. Students were given an introduction to neutron techniques for condensed matter studies, with applications to Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth sciences.

Dr. Anatoliy Senyshyn obtains the prize for his outstanding research in the field of lithium-ion batteries, which he watches in its function in a live hook-up at the atomic level.

The next deadline for beam time request on French neutron scattering instruments will be November 1st.

Dr Alison Edwards has contributed to the characterisation of two large, complex silver nanoclusters of 136 and 374 atoms as part of an international collaboration led by researchers from Xiamen University in China.

Using neutron beams at the CNBC, scientists gather direct molecular-level evidence for the role that Vitamin E plays in the human body—a feat that has been unattainable using other experimental techniques.

Learn neutron scattering on 2 – 10 March 2017 at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin. SINE2020 supports travel costs.

Fruitful discussions with a side of sunny weather, UNESCO heritage, fado, and nice food at the SINE2020 General Assembly.

The upcoming proposal submission deadline for neutron scattering experiments at Budapest Neutron Centre (BNC) is Saturday, 1 October 2016.

Rob Dimeo took very creative notes of talks at the "50 Years of Backscattering" workshop

The Canadian Neutron Beam Centre will provide neutrons until March 2018 and will to provide assistance until March 2019 to complete data analysis and publish results. You are invited to propose challenging experiments, encourage young researchers to visit and learn everything they can from the experts.

Engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, used neutrons recently to help understand the potential benefit of additive manufactured rocket engine components.

Thanks to an ultramodern research method, scientists have successfully looked inside transformers and observed the magnetic domains at work in the interior of a transformer's iron core. Transformers are indispensable in regulating electricity both in industry and in domestic households.

Get to know the main points of action, benefits, and challenges of the SINE2020 Industry Activity.

Eddy Lelièvre-Berna tells about the Sample Environment WP, which aims to improve the environment surrounding samples both on neutron and muon experiments, thus improving data statistics and opening new fields of science.

Conclusive evidence of order by disorder is scarce in real materials.

Experiments with neutrons reveal minimal corrosion of the top layer of a naturally occurring CO[~2~] reservoir.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has given 13.5 million Euros to fund a number of projects at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ).

Nuclear techniques have allowed archaeologists to see into an embedded section of an ancient Australian Indigenous stone artefact non-invasively—suggesting important information about its origin and use.

More than 90 energy researchers from around the world now came to the conference "Neutrons For Energy" in Bad Reichenhall to discuss current results and questions from various areas of energy research with neutrons.

Physics can also taste very sweet – this is one of the things that the pupils from grade 3 of the elementary school Garching Ost learned during their visit at the Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz. They made an atom model from toothpicks and marsh mallows and tried their abilities as neutron scatterers at a neutron ball toss.

The deuteron - just like the proton - is smaller than previously thought.

Proposals are accepted for experiments at the neutron beam instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR).

The deadline for Neutron Sciences Call for Proposals at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is October 5.

You can apply for OpenAire funds to publish or reimburse your FP7 project papers in Open Access journals.

According to Wikipedia, a TAKIN is a goat-like mammal in Asia. Quite different at FRM II: here it is a new and extremely useful software that Tobias Weber, Robert Georgii and Prof. Peter Böni of the MIRA group developed specifically for working with three-axis spectrometers.

Proposals are accepted for experiments at the OPAL Neutron Beam Facility (both cold- and thermal-neutron instruments) and National Deuteration Facility between January and June 2017.

The Time-Of-Flight spectrometer NEAT at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin is now in user operation with greatly increased flux and power after an extensive upgrade project.

Forschungszentrum Jülich releases two videos for science students and teachers.

Using neutrons, scientists have revealed a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease.

Since July 20, the FRM II again delivers neutrons. In the break, employees have finished many tasks: They exchanged the beam plug, which will guide neutrons towards the neutron guide hall east for new instruments.

Results show that reducing the inter-nanoparticles attractions gives rise to a much richer ensemble of nanoparticles self-assemblies, apparently with a smaller influence from kinetic traps (or barriers).

Inelastic neutron scattering experiments at ANSTO found a possible new quantum spin state in a novel antiferromagnetic material barium ytterbium zinc oxide which provides both a challenge and validation of the third law of thermodynamics.

Financial and administrative staff from the H2020 BrightnESS and its SINE2020 projects met on June 27 and 28 in Lund to exchange best practices and tools on how to best implement and manage both research projects.

On July 7, the 11th International Conference on Polarised Neutrons for Condensed Matter Investigations 2016 (PNCMI 2016) in Freising ended.

A novel and rare state of matter known as a quantum spin liquid has been empirically demonstrated in a monocrystal of the compound calcium-chromium oxide by team at HZB, which was previously thought impossible.

CERIC-ERIC is launching its fifth call for proposals. There are interesting news in this call, new instruments added to the offer and an award for high quality publications and conference presentations.

The United Kingdom has joined the project as a full member following a unanimous decision by the ESS Council.

Researchers use diffraction data from pulsed high-intensity neutrons to understand the reactions that deteriorate lithium batteries during operation.

Thanks to SINE2020 support, 31 participants attended the Central European Training School in Budapest last May.

Aircraft manufacturers sponsor researchers who are using stress data from the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre to evaluate methods of preventing distortion in thin aluminum parts.

The first volume of the ESFRI Scripta series reproduces the concluding report presenting a thorough analysis of the European Landscape of Research Infrastructures devoted to Neutron Scattering and Spectroscopy, and its evolution in the next decades.

A Chinese-German cooperation using the instrument PANDA at MLZ developed a concept for a cold three-axis spectrometer. Results are now published.

ANSTO had a restructure. It is now the ‘Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering & National Deuteration Facility’ and the Bragg institute becomes a virtual institute.

In an interview Hanna Wacklin tells about the SINE2020 collaboration activity on Chemical Deuteration, which she coordinates.

On October 1 a new two-year project will begin to study the microscopic structure and dynamics of bulk metallic glasses.

Fruitful discussions were held by 26 WP members who met at PSI in April to present the software programs the WP will focus on.

Bruno Guerard from ILL told us the plan to develop a 3He based MicroStrip Gas Chamber (MSGC) neutron detector with a novel 2D readout.

An easy-to-use and versatile software, _SpinWave_, to calculate spin waves in any arbitrary magnetic lattice, has been developed at the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin and is now freely available.

Scientists at ESS and its partner institutions aim to realise detectors that can capture and record the high neutron rates delivered by the world’s most powerful neutron source.

Scientists experimentally realized two-dimensional water by crafting the water molecules onto a hydrophilic surface with distances between the water molecules compatible with hydrogen bond formation.

The combination of the neutron diffraction techniques and the software program "Umweg" at MLZ is a big step forward to improve neutron studies on many highlighting materials, in order to answer the often difficult question of their real symmetry.

Samantha Zimnik was granted with the Laura Bassi price for her outstanding scientific achievements in the field of surface physics at the positron source NEPOMUC.

Version 3.7 of Mantid contains several improvements to the advanced visualisation and the CLI for multidimensional data.

New scientific questions demand ever better experimental equipment. In this interview, PSI researcher Oksana Zaharko reports on the challenges of setting up a new instrument for research with neutrons.

Neutron reflectometry experiments revealed the existence and extent of the interaction between A? peptides and a lone customised biomimetic membrane, and their dependence on the aggregation state of the peptide.

Research published in Nature combining neutron scattering with other techniques strengthens understanding of the delivery of cancer drugs.

Projection foresees major instantaneous reduction in neutron instruments available to Europe’s scientists once ILL shuts down.

The first BornAgain School and User Meeting, organized by the MLZ Scientific Computing Group, will take place on 21-22 November 2016 at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Zentrum Garching, Germany.

Two research teams have studied the new class of iron-based superconductors at the MLZ and independently came to the same surprising result: the superconducting Cooper pairs change their symmetry.

Neutron computer tomography on the Dingo instrument has produced three dimensional video of ron meteorites.

Following research at CNBC, Nor-Mar Industries has received approval for, and successfully implemented changes to, welding protocols to deliver premium-quality products.

J-PARC Center and CROSS-Tokai are pleased to announce that the 2016B General Use proposal round will be open from Tuesday 17 May 2016.

In our history pages you can now find a summary of characteristic scientific and applied results which were obtained with use of the Swiss instruments for neutron scattering in the 20th century.

The magnetic properties of thin film systems with superconducting and ferromagnetic states and an isolating layer in between were never studied before.

A prominent figure in European research facilities, John Womersley will take over the high-profile project at an important time.

An international research team has discovered the mechanism by which a pharmaceutical excipient from the class of block copolymers improves the solubility of large quantities of a poorly water-soluble active substance. The results form the basis for the development of a drug delivery system better tolerated by the human body.

This week sees a meeting on Future Applications of Small-Angle (Neutron) Scattering to Soft Matter, which will also celebrate Richard’s (partial!) retirement.

SpinWave is an easy-to-use and versatile software to calculate spin waves in any abitrary magnetic lattice. It is now freely available.

Scientists have used neutron crystallography to determine the structures of HIV-1 protease/drug complexes, providing key details of hydrogen-bonding interactions in the active-site and revealing a pH-induced proton ‘hopping’ mechanism that guides HIV-1 protease activity.

News on NRU shut-down, school, and call for proposals.

Hydro-Québec is using stress data from the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre (CNBC) to improve electricity generation from hydroelectric dams.

Chain behavior has been determined in polymer nanocomposites comprised of well-dispersed 12nm diameter silica nanoparticles in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrices by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering measurements under the Zero Average Contrast condition.

Scientists have designed a novel catalyst that overcomes the challenge of breaking down complex plant components to produce some of the highest yields of biofuel. The results bring us one step closer to lessening our dependence on fossil fuels, and are an important development in our shift towards renewable energy.

Addressing one of the last remaining concerns in the civil nuclear fuel cycle. Europe's High Performance Research Reactors have teamed up in a common initiative, "HERACLES", to support the world-wide non-proliferation efforts by minimizing their usage of HEU material.

Scientists have examined a method to preserve artifacts more closely by Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis to find the optimal conditions for preservation.

Results show that one can examine details of the operation of fuel cells with neutron scattering and thus promote the optimisation of the individual components of the fuel cell for a longer life and better efficiency.

A publication in the journal Johnson Matthey Technology Review explains how and why neutron scattering may be a useful technique to investigate catalysis.

Neutron scattering at ANSTO has contributed to building evidence for the existence of a highly exotic and elusive state of matter, known as a magnetic ‘spin nematic’ phase in a natural mineral called linarite.

Prof. Helmut Schober has been appointed, with effect from 1st October 2016, as the new Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, the world’s flagship centre for neutron science.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutrons to uncover novel behavior in materials that holds promise for quantum computing.

The semi-annual IKON meeting has become the forum for ESS and its in-kind partners to make a clear assessment of instrument construction progress. The focus of February’s meeting was less on the activities of individual instrument teams than the multidisciplinary collaboration as a whole.

Spin ice is an unusual magnetic material in which the combination of strong local Ising anisotropy and ferromagnetic interactions imposes a local constraint to the magnetic moments, the "ice-rule". We have observed magnetic fragmentation in a recently discovered material, the spin ice candidate Nd2Zr2O7, by means of neutron scattering measurements.

New link on our "educational material" pages. Melvyn Bragg from BBC and guests discuss the neutron, one of the particles found in an atom's nucleus.

The next deadline for the submission of beam time requests for the Swiss spallation neutron source 'SINQ' is May 20.

McStas 2.3 has been released and is ready for download.

The NSSA is pleased to announce the selection of the following 2016 NSSA Fellows: John Copley, Michael Crawford, Pengcheng Dai, Jaime Fernandez-Baca, Brent Fultz, Aaron Krawitz, Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Timothy Lodge, Jaroslaw Majewski, John Root, and Stephen White.

The first component has been successfully installed in the Accelerator tunnel at the ESS Construction site this month. The occasion marks an important step toward ESS’ project goals and ultimate delivery to its European partners and the scientific community.

The internal movements of proteins can be important for their functionality. With the aid of neutron spectroscopy, scientists detected dynamic processes in so-called LOV photoreceptors. The results highlight the immense potential of neutron scattering experiments for the analysis of cellular processes.

SINE2020 offers consultation and free neutron scattering measurements to industry. Strengthen your R&D potential with us by submitting your proposal by June 30.

Eight neutron and muon introductory schools will be financially supported by SINE2020.

A team of scientists and technicians designed a more efficient stopped-flow observation head that can make SANS experiments easier and more efficient to conduct. Watch our new video to know all about it!

Learn how the SINE2020 Industry WP will help create an innovation-friendly environment around European neutron sources to tackle societal challenges by coupling research and innovation.

The Committee Research with Neutrons (KFN) will award the Wolfram-Prandl-Prize to young scientists with PhD at the DN2016 in September 2016.

The SINE2020 and brightnESS projects organised a meeting of communications officers to strengthen collaboration.

Neutron scattering textbook, exercises, and simulations of experiments are now available online and for free at e-neutrons.org.

The next deadline for beam time request on French neutron scattering instruments will be April 1st. Within this call, you may ask beam time on the LLB instruments installed at the Orphée reactor in Saclay, and also on 4 French CRG at the ILL (D1B, D23, IN12 and IN22).

The Neutron Scattering Society of America is pleased to announce the 2016 recipients of its four major prizes: Dr. Charles F. Majkrzak, Prof. Pengcheng Dai, Dr. Yun Liu, and Dr. P. Douglas Godfrin.

The combination of different neutron methods allowed measuring the complete spectrum of magnetic excitations.

The Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, kindly invites you to submit applications for beam time at the IBR-2 high flux pulsed reactor. The deadline is April 15, 2016.

You are invited to submit an abstract to this conference, which will be on 18.-21. July 2016, Bad Reichenhall, Germany. The deadline for abstract submission is 15 March 2016.

The CNBC is enhancing its neutron imaging capabilities to see inside concealed objects. Identifying unknown radioactive material reduced the cost of a long-term waste management liability for the Government of Canada and demonstrated new capabilities.

All neutron users are invited to submit abstracts for the German Neutron Scattering Conference 2016. The conference will take place in Kiel from Sept. 20 to 22, 2016.

Forschungszentrum Jülich has begun to develop a concept for cost-efficient neutron sources which could replace mid-sized facilities. The new sources will operate without using reactor-typical chain reactions. Even smaller facilities on a laboratory scale can be set up using the same principle.

The ESS civil construction project broke ground nearly 18 months ago as one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. With the Accelerator tunnel nearing completion, and the complex foundation work for the Target Station well advanced, all eyes are focused on technical installations beginning this year.

In the final and major stages of acceleration before contact with the Target, the proton beam energy of the ESS Accelerator will reach 2.0 GeV, making it the most powerful linear proton accelerator ever built. France’s national Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission, CEA, is guiding the design, production and testing of the superconducting radio-frequency elliptical cryomodules that make this possible.

This release contains the long awaited support to handle the differing Crystallography convention (kf-ki) and inelastic convention (ki-kf) for representing HKL and Q space data.

In a new video you can learn of a new pressure cell that makes it easier to conduct SANS experiments at 500 MPa.

The first attempts to use boron-10 for neutron detection were made in the 1970s. Due to the high neutron flux expected at ESS and the economics of the helium-3 crisis, boron is experiencing a comeback. EU support through the BrightnESS project is delivering critical results for the development of such detectors at the European Spallation Source.

The research reactor Munich (FRM), known as the "Atomic Egg", came into operation on 31 October 1957. The research neutron source Heinz Maier Leibnitz (FRM II) reached its first criticality on 2 March, 2004 and user operation began only one year later on 29 April, 2005.

Watch this new video where scientists explain us the steps taken before conducting a neutron experiment on biological samples.

Stefan Janssen is Head of the User Office at Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. In an interview, he explains why the PSI’s large research facilities are popular with researchers coming from other institutions, how he handles the many applications and how he supports users who come here to conduct experiments.

An NMI3 JRA has made significant progress in the production of biological membranes that can be used for structural and dynamic characterisations.

When a gas explosion occurs in a home, analyzing evidence and determining the chain of events leading up to the explosion can be critical to resolving a lawsuit. If the provider is found to be at fault, injured parties can be awarded hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

You are invited to apply for time on the neutron beam instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). The deadline for all proposals is Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

Institute director and physicist from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Prof. Andreas Schreyer, is the new scientific director of the future-oriented centre ESS, starting in January.

Learn all about SINE2020: world-class Science and Innovation with Neutrons in Europe in 2020.

Proposals for beam time at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) will be accepted Wednesday, April 13, 2016.

Researchers from the European Spallation Source and Denmark refine reflectometry concepts for fast kinetic studies of thin films and other advanced materials.

Deadline Step 1: February 5th, 2016 / Deadline Step 2: March 1st, 2016

In type II superconductors thin channels, flux tubes, are formed. The magnetic field is guided through these tubes while the rest of the material remains field-free and superconducting. In the metal niobium, the flux tubes bunch together into small islands that create complex patterns. Researchers were the first to conduct neutron experiments to study these structures in niobium and determine the distribution of the islands in detail.

The new vice-chair of the ESS Council is not new to neutrons. Her strong background in research, facility development, and within European-wide advisory bodies, places Caterina Petrillo at the centre of the neutron science community in Europe.

Researchers investigated how cholesterol levels influence drug delivery. The results vary depending on the type of drug tested.

Proposals at the OPAL Neutron Beam Facility (both cold- and thermal-neutron instruments) and National Deuteration Facility. Deadline 15 March 2016, for beam time between July and December 2016.

Although they don’t currently have as much conductivity, solid-state electrolytes designed for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are emerging as a safer alternative to their more prevalent—sometimes flammable—liquid-electrolyte counterparts.

Students can immediately apply for the MaMaSELF Master program that starts in 2016. The deadline for non-EU students ends on January 31; EU students have time until February 28. All, that do not require scholarship, must apply before April 30.

Green Light for SREss. The project Spatial Research Excellence by ESS (SREss) has been granted European Union funding to build and establish part of the European Spallation Source research infrastructure in Lund.

You are invited to apply for time on the neutron beam instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). The deadline for all proposals is Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

The UK’s Science & Technology Facilities Council signed an MoU with the European Spallation Source this month that establishes the world’s longest operating neutron spallation source as lead partner in building the ESS instruments FREIA and LoKI.

Prof. Mark Johnson has been appointed as the new UK Associate Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, the world centre for neutron science, with effect from 1st October 2016. He will act as Head of the Science Division.

Staudinger-Durrer Prize awarded to Prof. Dieter Richter.

It is time for a summary of the achievements of this JRA. New methods now provide information on material and magnetic systems which are not accessible using any other experimental technique.

t is time for a summary of the achievements of this JRA, which aims to develop two promising detector technologies to cope with the high cost and near unavailability of 3He.

Would you like to know where to submit your next proposal for neutron scattering experiments and when the neutron sources are running? Have a look at our diagram!

A new update of SasView, version 3.1.2, has just been released. It is recommended that all users of SasView upgrade.

The location of the XVIII Conference on Small-angle Scattering in 2021 was not decided yet. The SAS Commission of the IUC has thus decided to extend the submission deadline to 1 February 2016.

Learn about the benefits of this collaboration between the major neutron and muon facilities in Europe as well as the feedback of the European Commission, by the NMI3 Manager and Coordinator, scientists, and school organisers.

Research with neutrons has long delivered new and more environmentally responsible solutions for our planet. As part of its core framework, the European Spallation Source and its partners are working to realise sustainability goals for construction and operations.

The Seventh Joint BER II and BESSY II User Meeting will take place at WISTA, Berlin-Adlershof on December 9th and 10th, the neutrons session are at Berlin-Wannsee on December 11th. The Verein Freundeskreis Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e.V. will bestow the Innovation Award and the Ernst-Eckart-Koch Prize. Public highlights are a science slam on Wednesday, 18:30 and the public lecture by David Cahen on the power of science to bridge ideological differences. The public lecture and the science slam are open for everybody.

As one of the highest priority research infrastructure projects in Europe, ESS was visited today by the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas. He was joined at the construction site by the Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research, Helene Hellmark Knutsson.

On 24 November 2015 the G7 Non Proliferation Directors Group visited the Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) and the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Centre for Neutron Research (MLZ).

The deadline for nominations of the Prizes Clifford G. Shull, NSSA Sustained Research, NSSA Science, NSSA Student, and NSSA Fellows is December 8.

The Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society have jointly awarded the Max Born Prize to Christian Pfleiderer of TUM's Physik-Department.

Hidden ‘Damascus’ patterns in the steel used to make ancient Indo-Persian swords and daggers are being uncovered by collaborators from London’s Wallace Collection and CNR, Italy, during neutron diffraction experiments at ISIS. This work gives insight into the quality of the blades as well as helping curators identify ‘Damascus steel’.

The deadline for applying for funding for Neutron or Muon Introductory Schools is January 24. The schools will be supported by the SINE2020 project.

Given that NMI3-II will finish soon it was time to take stock of the work developed over the last four years.

SAC and TAC recommendations advance the ESS along the critical path to completion, and the ERIC Council gets rolling with the election of Prof. Caterina Petrillo as vice chair and approval of the instrument suite.

A key issue with lithium ion batteries is aging. It significantly reduces their potential storage capacity. To date, very little is known about the causes of the aging effects. Scientists now came a step closer to identifying the causes in their latest experiments.

A guide prepared at the ILL gives an overview of Open Access publishing and rules for EU projects.

New forensic techniques to help with the positive identification of unknown victims based on their burned skeletal remains are being developed by bone experts working beside neutron scientists.

New educational material! In a podcast Physics World news editor Michael Banks travels to ISIS to find out how scientists are using neutrons in their research and how the lab is looking to attract more users from industry.

The new detection system is characterized by a dead-time constant of 25ns and a count rate as high as 5MHz at 10% dead-time. Compared to the old detector, this means an improvement of factor 25.

“Neutron Scattering on Nano-Structured Soft Matter: Synthetic- and Bio-Materials” has been the focus of this year’s JCNS Workshop, held from 5 -8 October at the Evangelische Akademie Tutzing on Lake Starnberg.

The Director for Accelerators and Technology at CERN spent a recent visit to the European Spallation Source getting up to speed on the swiftly advancing project and reinforcing the high-level coordination between the directors of ‘the two leading accelerator projects in Europe’.

BrightnESS Begins. More than 70 representatives from the 18 participating institutions came together at the European Spallation Source on September 25 for the BrightnESS Kick-Off Meeting, which formally launched the EU-funded project.

Magnetism. Over the last 60 years neutron scattering has provided the breakthroughs necessary to understand the atomic-level ordering of magnetic materials. The latest discovery of these ‘hidden orders’ has recently been published in the journal Science and suggests the potential for neutron scattering to reveal much more.

BrightnESS is a European Union-funded project within the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme designed to ensure that key challenges are met in order to build an ESS that can deliver high-impact scientific and technological knowledge.

An international workshop with more than 30 researchers was organized by the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science on Nov 27-28 to discuss current and future options for compact accelerator driven high brilliance neutron sources to serve the scientific community.

It was very useful to meet at the NMI3 final General Assembly and the SINE2020 kick-off meeting to discuss future work and outcomes of the last 4 years

We've got a new link on our Educational Resources. You can access the e-learning platform VNF and simulate neutron scattering experiments.

Instrument teams and in-kind partners from around Europe came together in Lund with developers of neutron technologies, science support systems, and data management and software for the ESS 9th In-Kind Collaboration Meeting for Neutron Scattering Systems.

Researchers have found a much easier and more accurate way of investigating the often decisive lateral deflection of molecules.

The joint Nordic programme for neutron research is being established to address the need for competence-building in this field, as identified by research funding agencies in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Agneta Nestenborg assumed leadership of the ESS Project Support & Administration Directorate on September 1. The transition marked the completion of former director Matti Tiirakari’s distinguished five-year secondment from CERN.

STFC and Diamond Light Source are offering 36 positions to post-doctoral researchers over the next five years as part of the brand new Rutherford International Fellowship Programme.

Nominations for Rosen Scholar candidates are to be sponsored by at least one of LANSCE's Facilities. The deadline is December 4.

The PSI spallation neutron source is accepting beam time requests with deadline on November 15.

There is a new article on our History section. You can now learn about the birth of time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction at pulsed sources by Izabela M. Sosnowska.

Spoke Cavity Prototypes Exceed Expectations. An important test result was achieved this summer at the accelerator lab of the French Institute of Nuclear Physics, IPN-Orsay. The finding is important to linac development worldwide, but of particular importance to the ESS Accelerator currently under civil construction in Sweden and in technical development across Europe.

The version 3.5 of Mantid includes significant improvements. Furthermore the new Mantid Forum will provide a centre for support and conversation across the Mantid community.

The ISIS neutron and muon sources in the UK are calling for proposals.

ORNL is calling for proposals with deadline October 14. There is updated information for the Quantum Condensed Matter instruments at the HFIR.

Our universe consists of significantly more matter than existing theories are able to explain. One way to clarify this discrepancy is via the neutron’s so-called electric dipole moment. In an international collaboration, researchers at PSI have now devised a new method which will help determine this dipole moment more accurately than ever before.

"Neutron scattering as an essential tool for science has addressed some of society’s grand challenges but its future is not assured,” said Prof Christiane Alba-Simionesco, Director of LLB and Chair of ENSA.

The journal Metals is calling for papers. The deadline for manuscript submissions is 30 November 2015.

You can submit your proposal for beam time at the IBR-2 high flux pulsed reactor until October 15.

The Budapest Neutron Centre is calling for proposals for scientists to use their neutron instruments.

It is time for a summary of the achievements of this JRA, which aims to provide a wider range of experimental tools to make the best use of neutron scattering for soft and bio-materials.

The ESS Data Management and Software Centre is an integrated part of the design and construction of the ESS instrument suite and a key driver in the development of the facility’s user program.

Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have developed a coating technique in the laboratory conditions that could raise the efficiency of fuel cells. The PSI scientists have already applied to patent the technique, which is suitable for mass production.

The first concrete ceremony was held September 11 on the construction site of the multi-purpose research fast neutron reactor in Russia.

The neutron school “FAN du LLB 2015” will be on December 7-10 in France. The deadline for registration is October 18.

You can now find information on the Hellenic Neutron Association from Greece on a dedicated page on our website.

NMI3 was at the European Conference on Neutron Scattering 2015. Get to know about announcements by ENSA and the highlights of this great conference.

The deadline for neutron beam time request to perform neutron scattering experiments at the Laboratoire Leon Brillouin in France is October 1st.

Scientists have discovered skyrmions in the very material class they were originally predicted. These strange quasiparticles can be controlled with electrical fields, which can be used in futuristic memory storage.

The school will be on Feb 25 - March 4 at the HZB. The deadline for registrations is Oct 15.

The first successful user experiment at ESS demonstrates the importance of neutrons to the life sciences, and shows the way forward for ESS as a user facility.

Seen from outside Manganese silicon shows no magnetism, inside it looks different. By neutron scattering TU scientists have now proven the excitations of its magnetic helix.

New cooperation project headed by JCNS shall promote EU-Russia cooperation in the planning, construction and scientific use of large scale facilities.

Application of neutron beams for automative applications at the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre.

New Study shows Correlation between Microscopic Structures and Macroscopic Properties.

In combination with other methods of investigation, scientists have recently achieved amazing results with the instrument BIODIFF at MLZ.

At 19th of August the EC in Brussels formally adopted its decision to establish the European Spallation Source as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium, or ERIC.

Swiss-Danish team to build a pioneering crystal analyser spectrometer optimised to study dynamics in quantum materials and matter under extreme conditions.

Neutron scattering provides insight into the structure of magnetic nanoparticles and dynamic behaviour of encapsulated cancer drugs.

The American Crystallographic Association has selected retired Laboratory Senior Fellow Benno Schoenborn, formerly of Bioenergy and Biome Sciences (Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center, B-11), to receive the 2016 Bau Neutron Diffraction Award.

The version 3.3 of the simulation package VITESS has been released.

The ILL has just published a brochure on how experiments with neutrons are enabling responsible and sustainable power generation, storage and use.

A new project will start in October 2015 and last for four years. It has recently been accepted for funding under the European Commission HORIZON 2020 framework.

The Grant Agreement for SINE2020 has now been signed by the European Commission. The project will start this year on October 1 and will last four years.

The brochure highlights the importance of neutron scattering, illustrated by several examples. Get a free copy at the NMI3 stand at ECNS!

Proposals at the OPAL Neutron Beam Facility (both cold- and thermal-neutron instruments) and National Deuteration Facility are now open.

The 2015 Walter Hälg Prize has been awarded to Prof Dr Helmut Rauch for his outstanding and seminal contributions to the fundamental aspects of neutron physics and optics and many related aspects of quantum physics.

The Canadian Neutron Beam Centre invites user proposals for neutron beam time on its six beamlines.

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) is issuing a Call for Proposals for experiments to be run at the Lujan Center’s moderated neutron source during Fiscal Year 2016.

The Advanced Methods and Techniques JRA has developed a new type of RFSF to enhance NRSE spectrometers.

Alan Tennant has been appointed director of the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The NMI3 Imaging JRA discusses how to produce smaller beams. They conclude that reflective optics offers the most versatile way to produce them.

HZB team decodes relationship between magnetic interactions and the distortions in crystal structure within a geometrically “frustrated” spinel system

The ageing of the foams could be stopped to make them stable indefinitely, or until they were heated above the melting temperature of the crystals.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency has given approval for ANSTO to commence user operations on the Sika cold-neutron 3-axis spectrometer.

For the first time, one of ANSTO's high-temperature vacuum furnaces has been used successfully on the Pelican cold-neutron time-of-flight spectrometer.

Groundbreaking work at two Department of Energy national laboratories has confirmed plutonium's magnetism, which scientists have long theorized but have never been able to experimentally observe.

For the first time, ANSTO's Dingo neutron radiography/imaging/tomography station has taken some neutron topography data, from the germanium (335) monochromator used on Wombat.

An increasing number of scholarly publishers and journals are converting to open access. In fields relevant to neutron science and technology, the journals listed are available in full open access.

Great progress made in the commissioning of the new Bilby time-of-flight small-angle scattering instrument in ANSTO.

In April, tests were conducted at J-PARC that have preliminarily validated the physics behind the innovative ESS “flat” moderator. This design is expected to increase neutron brightness at ESS for some instruments by up to a factor of three.

Neutron measurements reveal key dynamic properties of magnetic structure in unique experimental study.

The workshop was a great opportunity to share expectations, experiences, and give examples of work conducted in several European research infrastructures.

Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General at CERN since 2009, took some time to speak with ESS about the two facilities.

ANSTO research may help preserve some of the world’s most important historic artefacts and buildings.

From pipes to power station turbines and railway lines, ensuring that engineering components perform under pressure can save lives.

The ESS peer-review instrument selection process nears conclusion as four new instrument proposals are recommended for inclusion within the facility’s construction budget of 16 instruments.

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) is issuing a Call for Proposals for experiments to be run at the Lujan Center’s moderated neutron source.

A single-shot observation of dynamic processes across multiple length and time scales will give unprecedented insight into previously unobservable phenomena.

Rush describes the efforts over the past 50 years to develop neutron research facilities in the US, discusses the reasons for the current state of affairs, and makes suggestions to prevent similar consequences in the future.

Announcement of cancellation of the call for J-PARC MLF 2015B General Use Proposals.

The first European Spallation Source (ESS) pulse signature measurement was made last month on the ESS test beamline at HZB in Germany.

McStas 2.2 has been released and is ready for download. Read more to learn about important highlights from the release.

The Mantid project introduced a wide variety of improvements in this release including: a collection of improvements to multi dimensional and "normal" plotting, new experimental planning interfaces.

On April 1st ANSTO's new EMU backscattering spectrometer recorded its first spectrum, in this case from a polyvinyl chloride standard.

You are invited to apply for time on the neutron beam instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). The deadline for all proposals is Tuesday, June 16, 2015.

The first fully functional Low-Level Radio Frequency control system for the ESS Accelerator has been installed and integrated into the EPICS control system at the FREIA Laboratory at Uppsala University.

A letter asking for support alerts to the risk that the neutron source LLB-Orphée will have to shut down earlier than planned, which will impact its users' research programmes.

A new neutron project that will start in October 2015 and last for four years has recently been accepted for funding under the European Commission HORIZON 2020 framework.

The Budapest Neutron Centre invites you to submit applications for beam time at the Budapest Research Reactor.

Scientists find that Hfq forms a nucleoprotein complex, changes the mechanical properties of the double helix and compacts DNA into a condensed form.

The first external user of the FRM II was Klaus Habicht of the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, who carried out experiments on the instrument TRISP on May 4, 2005.

A new computational tool for carrying out spin wave calculations is available for download.

You can receive support to learn about Application of Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation in Engineering Materials Science on September 21-25 near Hamburg.

The film recounts the struggle and the long road to bring the ESS to Scandinavia and the great potential in the future research.

NMI3 collaboration works on simulations to find the best possible guide for experiments at low temperatures and high magnetic fields.

Spain collaborates closely with the ESS. In November 2014, ESS-Bilbao was chosen as the in-kind partner for the ESS target system.

At the end of March, Prof. Dieter Richter of the Research Centre Jülich not only retires, but also passes his position as MLZ Director to Prof. Thomas Brückel.

Watch a YouTube recording of a talk by Gerry Lander at the ILL telling the story of the discovery of the neutron in 1932, and then that of fission in 1939 through the lives of Chadwick and Meitner and world events.

The first edition of the International Interdisciplinary Event “Science for Life” 2015 will be held from 20th to 25th of May 2015 in Lampedusa, a fascinating Sicilian island.

The Swiss spallation neutron source 'SINQ' is calling for proposals for the beam time period II/15 between 01/09/2015 and 23/12/2015.

ECA and ENSA announce the call for the Erwin Felix Lewy Bertaut Prize in his honour, and in memory of his scientific achievements and cornerstones in crystallography and neutron scattering.

Thanks to NMI3 support, for the first time researchers create artificial methane hydrates in just a few minutes.

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) is issuing a Call for Proposals for the WNR facility for run cycle September – December, 2015.

The Rosen Scholar is a fellowship created to honor the memory of Louis Rosen, his accomplishments, hard work, and affection for the broad range of science performed at LANSCE. Dr. Edwin Fohtung is the current LANSCE Professor in conjunction with the Department of Physics at New Mexico State University.

ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source is now back in action after considerable upgrades over the last six months.

The bicameral decision formalizes Switzerland’s accession to ESS and extends the Swiss financial commitment through 2026.

Part of an integrated SANS instrument suite at ESS, SKADI analyses materials’ structures at the largest scales possible with neutron diffraction.

The Canadian Neutron Beam Centre invites user proposals for neutron beam time on its six beamlines.

Scientists conducted an experiment with the instrument SPODI at MLZ to determine the structure of shape memory alloys of nickel-manganese-indium.

We describe a new regime in dense polymer solutions, typically above ~1mol/L, where q* is proportional to the concentration c of the solution.

With the casting of the first 10-meter section of the accelerator tunnel walls in the last week of January, the European Spallation Source began to go vertical.

Researchers used additive manufacturing and neutron imaging to examine microchannel heat exchangers, which hold refrigerants used to move thermal energy and provide cooling or heating in many applications.

IKON8 at ISIS. This meeting brought a capacity crowd to the UK venue where an important exchange of new ESS neutron technologies came face to face with the lessons learned at ISIS during its five-year upgrade of Target Station 2.

Researchers are working on an interdisciplinary collaboration between physicists and dentists to develop a material comprised of glass ionomer cement.

Small-angle neutron scattering enabled researchers to look inside intact leaves to learn how their structure and functions change when submitted to environmental changes.

PA20, the new SANS machine of the LLB, delivered its first SANS spectra on 6 march 2015.

Researchers successfully shown that boron-coated vitreous carbon foam can be used in the detection of neutrons emitted by radioactive materials — of critical importance to homeland security.

Forschungszentrum Jülich receives around € 4 million from the EU to develop a more efficient detector system for research with neutrons.

A novel non-destructive method using short-wavelength characteristic X-ray diffraction meter with the X-ray tube of tungsten anode target to determine the RS within the materials is developed in China.