The Institute Laue Langevin (ILL) and its pioneering user system B. Farago (Head of the TOF-HR Instrument Group ILL) Based on the talk of W.G. Stirling Director of the ILL EC JRC Brussels 29/01/2015
Examples of Open Access User Labs: The Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble Introduction to neutron scattering q Why neutrons? The ILL Scientific access to the ILL q The proposal system
Thermal neutrons Uncharged particles (waves): produced by fission (reactors) or spallation (accelerators, pulsed sources) E ~ k B T (so typically mev) Wide range of energy/wavelength: from µev (~ 30 nm = 300Å) to ev (~ 0.03 nm = 0.3Å) Spin ½ so can be spin-polarised (+magnetic moment) Penetrate materials
Why are neutrons useful for studying materials? Wavelength (Å) ~ interatomic spacings Diffraction atomic structures Energy (mev) ~ phonon/spin-wave energies Inelastic scattering dynamics Scattering power does not vary simply with Z Isotopes different scattering (contrast e.g. H and D) Neutron spin magnetic information (structures and dynamics) No radiation damage
Neutron Sources Worldwide (scattering) Europe (~16) France, Germany, UK North America (~10) USA, Canada Oceania (~3) Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia Asia (~8) Japan, India, China, Korea South America (1) Argentina
Neutron Sources Worldwide (scattering) ILL ISIS The big facilities: ILL, Grenoble; ISIS, Oxford, UK; SNS and HFIR, ORNL, USA Other large installations: NIST, Washington, USA; Orphée, LLB, Saclay, France; FRM-II, Garching, Germany; OPAL, Lucas Heights, Australia ESS, Lund SNS HFIR
The Institut Laue-Langevin
Institut Laue-Langevin Founded in 1967, world leader in neutron science and technology The ILL is the world s most intense reactor neutron source Scientific research at the frontiers of modern science Scientific publications, training, technique and instrument development 8
Science at the ILL 1300 proposals corresponding to 9000 instrument days ILL publications in 2013 2000 users 850 experiments/year 38 countries 28 instruments + 9 CRG Theory 1% Nuclear and particle physics 8% Soft Matter 13% Spectroscopy 7% Instrument n and Techniques 8% Biology 10% Crystallog 17% 600 publications/year Materials science & engineering 7% Magnetic structures 15% Magnetic excitations 9% Liquids & Glasses 5%
Science at the ILL 200 180 High impact publications - extended list Chemistry of Materials, Europhys. J.E.,JACS, JMB, Langmuir, Macromolecules Nature, Nature:Materials,Nature:Physics, PRL, PRB, PRC, PRE, Science 160 140 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 10
ILL member countries Associates Germany: 25 % UK: 25 % France: 25 % Scientific Members Spain Italy Switzerland Denmark CENI (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia) TRANSNI (Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Denmark) India 11
ILL users: where they come from
A highly qualified / highly trained staff ~ 500 staff ~ 80 scientists ~ 85 engineers ~ 35 thesis students ~ 200 technicians ~ 90 administration/ support 13
The ILL High Flux Reactor 58 MW reactor operating ~200 days/year; 4 Cycles of ~50 days /year 14
Instrument suite Diffractometers (single-crystal, powder, small-angle, Laue, liquids ) Reflectometers Spectrometers (inelastic, back-scattering, diffuse scattering, spin-echo ) Nuclear and fundamental physics instrumentation
The Millenium Programme (2005-2015) Upgrades to instruments, neutron optics Result - the average neutron detection rate on the instruments has been improved by at least 20
Today we are setting our sights on the horizon 2030 - Endurance New and upgraded instruments q Complementary infrastructure: Sample environment (NESSE): levitation, high p and H q Software (BASTILLE): open-source, high-level GUI, modelling Our goals: The Endurance Programme (2015-2023) to preserve our position of leadership by upgrading the instruments to offer new possibilities in the fields of magnetism, materials science, soft matter, biology, nuclear and particle physics
Scientific access to the ILL
The ILL proposal system Proposals submitted electronically twice a year, February and September, to Scientific Coordination Office (SCO) Beamtime is limited: ~ 160 days per year on each of 28 instruments + (~3) Request consistently exceeds demand Peer review selection process Submitted proposals are numbered and distributed to 9 different panels System operating since ~ 1972; electronic submission since 2001
The ILL proposal system Research fields/review panels: 1. Applied physics, instrumentation and techniques 2. Nuclear and particle physics 3. Magnetic excitations 4. Crystallography 5. Magnetic structures 6. Structure and dynamics of liquids and glasses 7. Spectroscopy in solid state physics & chemistry 8. Structure and dynamics of biological systems 9. Structure and dynamics of soft-condensed matter
The ILL proposal system Each Review Panel is composed of: about ten external reviewers, experts in the scientific field a chairperson appointed by ILL management two ILL staff members (scientific secretary and expert) Panel members grade proposals on a web interface before face-to-face meeting (up to 1½ day) ILL SCO coordinates / prepares / monitors / records / analyses proposals and panel meetings
The ILL proposal system Reviewers are asked to: comment in detail on the quality of the proposal provide an overall rating of the proposal (A: 10-7; B: 6.9-5; C: 4-0); cut-off around A-B border identify the proposal s strengths and weaknesses indicate any potential conflicts of interest (either personal or external) maintain the confidentiality of the proposals reviewed write detailed feedback comments to be sent to the proposers
Proposal Review Process Proposal submission to the data base Internal technical review (ILL staff) On-line external review (external members) Panel meetings Review results entered in the data base Statistics National balance Panel decision are sent to the users 6 weeks 7 weeks Scheduling of the experiment 3 to 6 months
Proposal Review Process Proposal submission to the data base Internal technical review (ILL staff) On-line external review (external members) Panel meetings Review results entered in the data base Statistics National balance Panel decision are sent to the users 6 weeks 7 weeks Carrying out experiment 6 months to 1 year
The ILL proposal system
The ILL proposal system Submitted Accepted 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 Spring 98 Autmun 98 Spring 99 Autumn 99 Spring 00 Autumn 00 Spring 01 Autumn 01 Spring 02 Autumn 02 Spring 03 Autumn 03 Spring 04 Autumn 04 Spring 05 Spring 06 Autumn 06 Spring 07 Autumn 07 Spring 08 Autumn 08 Spring 09 Autumn 09 Spring 10 Autumn 10 Spring 11 Autumn 11 Spring 12 Autumn 12 Spring 13 Autumn 13 Spring 14 Autumn 14 0
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