Large phase space extraction with high time resolution

Abstract

The time-of-flight (TOF) method is an often-used technique in neutron scattering experiments. A main challenge in the design of the guide system for high resolution instruments using this technique is to enhance the time resolution without loss in beam intensity. It is also important to go out of the line of sight close to the source and in the case of long instruments the neutron beam should be expanded to reduce the number of reflections. Here we propose a neutron guide geometry which provides a solution to these problems by extracting two separate beams from the source, and later merging them with little loss in intensity. We show an example of this guide system for a backscattering instrument at the European Spallation Source (ESS) as well.