Mid-scale RI:1 (M1:IP): A world-class Neutron Spin Echo Spectrometer for the Nation: UD-NIST-UMD Consortium

该奖项来自中型研究仪器计划，支持为国家采购、实施和调试世界一流的中子自旋回波光谱仪。特拉华州大学的中子科学中心与国家标准与技术研究所的中子研究中心和马里兰州大学合作，正在创建一个世界级的中子自旋回波光谱仪，以加强美国的研究基础设施，为软物质，生物科学和工程研究社区带来实质性的好处。完成后，该仪器将成为NSF-NIST资助的高分辨率中子散射中心的关键部分，该中心是一个国家用户设施，使美国科学家能够测量对人类直接重要的材料及其动力学，例如用作生物药物的蛋白质，生物膜和活细胞中的跨膜运输，具有上级水净化性能的先进纳米复合材料，更长寿命的电池。该仪器通过缩小美国研究仪器基础设施的关键差距，独特地提供了这些和额外的测量能力，学术界和工业界都有很大的需求。 特拉华州大学的中子科学中心（CNS）与国家标准与技术研究所中子研究中心（NCNR）和马里兰州大学（UMD）正在建立一个世界-类中子自旋回波光谱仪，能够测量软物质和生物系统中发生在100纳秒或更长时间尺度上的动力学过程。该仪器的可达时间尺度增加了一倍以上，在较短波长下有效强度增加了一个数量级，因此能够对软物质和生物材料的动力学特性进行全新的科学研究，即在纳米到微米的秒级时间尺度上对纳米级动力学进行结构-功能研究，该仪器是NSF-NIST高分辨率中子散射中心（CHRNS）的核心组成部分。为了确保广泛的科学应用，教育和外联举措促进其有效的科学应用，并确定新的科学问题和用户群体。 该项目还培养了一支先进的劳动力队伍，以有效利用这一国家资源。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award from the Midscale Research Instrumentation -1 program supports the acquisition, implementation and commissioning of a world-class neutron spin echo spectrometer for the nation. The University of Delaware's Center for Neutron Science working together with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Center for Neutron Research and the University of Maryland are creating a world-class neutron spin echo spectrometer to strengthen U.S. research infrastructure with substantial benefit to the soft matter, biological sciences, and engineering research communities. Upon completion, the instrument will be a key part of the NSF-NIST funded Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering, a national user facility, and enable US scientists to measure materials and their dynamics of direct importance to humanity, e.g. proteins used as biopharmaceuticals, biomembranes and transport across such membranes in living cells, advanced nanocomposites with superior water purification properties and more powerful, longer-life batteries. The instrument uniquely provides these and additional measurement capabilities by closing a critical gap in US research instrumentation infrastructure, with significant demand from academia and industry alike. The project also educates an advanced workforce to make efficient and effective use of this national resource.The University of Delaware's Center for Neutron Science (CNS) together with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) and the University of Maryland (UMD) are building a world-class neutron spin echo spectrometer capable of measuring dynamical processes that occur on the timescale of 100s of nanoseconds and longer in soft matter and biological systems. With more than double the accessible time scale and an order of magnitude increase in effective intensity at shorter wavelength, this instrument enables fundamentally new scientific investigations into the dynamical properties of soft matter and biological materials, i.e. structure-function investigations of nanoscale dynamics on the nano-to-micro second timescales, heretofore impossible in the U.S. The instrument is a central component of the NSF-NIST Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering (CHRNS). To ensure a broad scientific application, education and outreach initiatives promote its effective scientific use as well as identify new scientific problems and user communities. The project also educates an advanced workforce to make efficient and effective use of this national resource.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.