IMR: Development of an MIT Reactor Diffractometer: Enabling Novel Instrument Concepts and Educating Future Neutron Scientists

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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, and enable the US to regain leadership lost to Europe decades ago. The SNS will catalyze a new generation of instrument development, a new generation of neutron scientists, and therefore, a new generation of scientific research with neutrons. This proposal is aimed directly at developing novel instrumentation and educating the next generation of neutron scientists, both of which are now clear pre-requisites to realizing the scientific impact from the SNS investment.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, and enable the US to regain leadership lost to Europe decades ago. Our research will emphasize developing novel focusing, polarization, and imaging methodologies. The unique challenge to optics design posed by SNS is the broad range of available neutron energies. The combination of the novel neutron optics and the great improvement in the neutron flux from SNS, will enable construction of fundamentally new instruments, which were not practical before. Our research will improve the performance of currently planned instruments at SNS and lead to a new proposal for an imaging instrument at SNS within three years. We envision the following programs: (i) Education and training for students in basic concepts of neutron scattering; (ii) Enhanced production of new materials at MIT and elsewhere by allowing rapid evaluation by neutron scattering; (iii) Development of novel neutron optics components; (iv) Conceptual development of a new imaging instrument - a neutron microscope in absorption and phase-contrast, for future installation at SNS; and (v) Establishment of a user facility to allow users from outside of MIT to conduct early phases of some experiments saving on precious time at large facilities, and to test and develop new neutron optics components.