Construction of new Neutron Diffractometer and Neutron Optics Test Station at MIT for research in materials science and neutron

optics and education of neutron scientists

David E. Moncton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, DMR 0526754

Neutron scattering and spectroscopy are among the pre-eminent tools for studying the structure and dynamics of matter at the atomic and molecular scale. A powerful new neutron facility is currently under construction in Oak Ridge National Lab, the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), which is widely anticipated to revolutionize this field.

MIT has a long tradition of leadership in neutron science, extending back to Prof. C. Shull, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who pioneered neutron scattering techniques. The combination of this tradition of excellence with an outstanding body of scientists and students enables the MIT reactor, one of the few university-based neutron sources, to introduce a large number of students to neutron scattering techniques.

NSF has recently funded new diffractometer and neutron optics test station at MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory (award DMR-0526754). The new instrument is motivated by the start-up of the SNS. To help building this instrument, NIST Center for Neutron research has donated a neutron spectrometer to MIT.

The NIST spectrometer is upgraded with new electronics and software and being installed at MIT. An undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering and a physics post-doc have participated so far in the upgrades and installation of this instrument, which will serve the large neutron scattering community from MIT and other universities and National Laboratories.

The NIST Center for Neutron Research is the nation’s leading neutron facility, serving annually over 2,000 scientists and engineers. NIST has recently donated one of its neutron spectrometers to MIT. The pictures above show the spectrometer during experiments at NIST. The instrument is in working condition and it is currently being upgraded and installed at MIT.

The monochromator stage equipped with new motors is getting ready for installation inside the heavy shielding drum.

Installation progress at MIT

Motorized monochromatorstage

Monochromator shielding riding on the rotating turret

David E. Moncton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, DMR 0526754

Example of cooperation between various agencies

• The fruitful cooperation between NSF and NIST (Department of Commerce) is enabling MIT to return to the forefront of neutron scattering research.

• NSF supports science and education projects motivated by the major neutron facility (Spallation Neutron Source), built by the Department of Energy.

David E. Moncton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, DMR 0526754