Neutron backscattering is one of several

inelastic neutron scattering Neutron scattering, the irregular dispersal of free neutrons by matter, can refer to either the naturally occurring physical process itself or to the man-made experimental techniques that use the natural process for investigating materials. Th ...

techniques.

Backscattering In physics, backscatter (or backscattering) is the reflection of waves, particles, or signals back to the direction from which they came. It is usually a diffuse reflection due to scattering, as opposed to specular reflection as from a mirror, a ...

from monochromator and analyzer crystals is used to achieve an energy resolution in the order of μeV. Neutron backscattering experiments are performed to study atomic or molecular motion on a nanosecond time scale.

History

Neutron backscattering was proposed by

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (28 March 1911, in Esslingen am Neckar – 16 December 2000, in Allensbach) was a German physicist. He made contributions to nuclear spectroscopy, coincidence measurement techniques, radioactive tracers for biochemistry and me ...

in 1966, and realized by some of his students in a test setup at the research reactor FRM I in

Garching bei München Garching bei München (''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a town in Bavaria, Germany, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments on its Campus Garching, campus. It became a city on 14 September 199 ...

, Germany. Following this successful demonstration of principle, permanent spectrometers were built at

Forschungszentrum Jülich Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ here for short) is a national research institution that pursues interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, information, and bioeconomy. It operates research infrastructures with a focus on supercomputers. C ...

and at the

Institut Laue-Langevin An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

(ILL). Later instruments brought an extension of the accessible momentum transfer range (IN13 at ILL), the introduction of focussing optics (IN16 at ILL), and a further increase of intensity by a compact design with a phase-space transform chopper (HFBS at

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

, SPHERES at

FRM II The Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (Forschungsreaktor München II or FRM II) (german: Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz) is a leading German research reactor and neutron source, named in honor of the physicist Heinz Ma ...

, IN16B at the

Backscattering spectrometers

Operational backscattering spectrometers at reactors include IN10, IN13, and IN16B at the

, the High Flux Backscattering Spectrometer (HFBS) at the

Center for Neutron Research, the SPHERES] instrument of

and EMU at

ANSTO The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is a statutory body of the Australian government, formed in 1987 to replace the Australian Atomic Energy Commission. Its head office and main facilities are in southern outs ...

Inverse geometry spectrometers

Inverse geometry spectrometers at spallation sources include IRIS and OSIRIS at the

ISIS neutron source The ISIS Neutron and Muon Source is a pulsed neutron and muon source, established 1984 at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, Unite ...

at Rutherford-Appleton, BASIS at the

Spallation Neutron Source The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is an accelerator-based neutron source facility in the U.S. that provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development.In 2007, SNS was entered into thG ...

, and MARS at the

Paul Scherrer Institute The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is a multi-disciplinary research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland. It is located in the Canton of Aargau in the municipalities Villigen and Würenlingen on either side of the River A ...

Historic instruments

Historic instruments are the first backscattering spectrometer that was a temporary setup at FRM I and the backscattering spectrometer BSS (also called PI) at the DIDO reactor of the Forschungszentrum Jülich (decommissioned).A historical and updated review on neutron backscattering and its applications can be found o
WEB-site of Neutron Backscattering Spectroscopy
and a more recent version of it at http://ah-backscattering.pagesperso-orange.fr/

References

{{Reflist Neutron scattering Spectroscopy