A long-wavelength target station for the spallation neutron source

Abstract

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a major new user facility for studies of the structure and dynamics of materials, funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), is under construction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Details about the project are available in a recent paper and on the SNS Web site [MRS Bull. 28 (12) (2003) 923]. A Long-Wavelength Target Station (LWTS) [Technical Concepts for a Long-Wavelength Target Station for the Spallation Neutron Source, Argonne National Laboratory Report ANL-02/16, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Report ORNL/SNS-TM-2001/163, November 2002. See also www.pns.anl.gov/related/] will complement the High-Power Target Station (HPTS) facility of the SNS and will build upon the significant investment in the remainder of the installation by providing important new scientific opportunities. For areas of science using the optimized long-wavelength beam lines, the LWTS will at least double the overall scientific capability of the SNS and provide for up to an order of magnitude performance gain over the initial HPTS. The fully equipped SNS has the prospect to offer capabilities for neutron-scattering studies of the structure and dynamics of materials with sensitivity, resolution, dynamic range, and speed that are unparalleled in the world. Preliminary assessments of the performance of the several instruments treated in detail in the body of the paper bear out this expectation. The LWTS concept has been developed in close consultation with the scientific community through a series of workshops and conferences jointly sponsored by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Science and the National Science Foundation. We describe the principal features of the LWTS concept, and provide a preliminary summary of some neutron scattering instruments suited to exploit the unique features of the LWTS. It remains to develop concepts and designs for a full suite of instruments that exploit the capabilities of LWTS, a process that has begun in collaboration with the scientific community.