Abstract
The European Spallation Source (ESS), which is under construction in Lund (Sweden), will be the next leading neutron facility with an unprecedented brilliance and novel long-pulse time structure. A long-pulse source not only provides a high time-average flux but also opens the possibility to tune the resolution by using pulse shaping choppers. Thus, an instrument can readily be operated in either a high flux or a high resolution mode. Several of the shorter instruments at the ESS will employ Wavelength Frame Multiplication (WFM) in order to enable a sufficient resolution while offering a continuous and broad wavelength range. A test beamline was operated until the end of 2019 at the research reactor in Berlin to test components and methods, including WFM, in order to prepare the new facility for the operation of neutron instruments and successful first science. We herein demonstrate the implementation of WFM for reflectometry. By selecting a short pulse mode under the same geometrical configuration, we compare and discuss the results for two reference samples. The reported experiments not only serve to prove the reliability of the WFM approach but also, for the first time, demonstrate the full instrument control, data acquisition and data reduction chain that will be implemented at the ESS.
Highlights
Neutrons and x-rays play an important role in the current research for investigating the structure and dynamics of materials and can probe these over several orders of magnitude in length and time
This is the first demonstration of the working data pipeline and instrument control system that will be implemented at the future European Spallation Source (ESS)
By using pulse shaping choppers, the long pulse will allow for a high degree of flexibility when it comes to customizing the instrument performance in order to provide the optimal balance between flux and resolution—much more so than is possible at a short pulse neutron source
Summary
Neutrons and x-rays play an important role in the current research for investigating the structure and dynamics of materials and can probe these over several orders of magnitude in length and time. The reflectivity depends on the scattering length density (SLD) profile perpendicular to the sample’s surface. It probes the structure and composition along the surface normal while averaging in the surface plane. Neutron reflectometers typically belong to the instrument suites at different facilities spread all over the world and make an important contribution in various research fields, e.g., concerning polymer coatings, energy storage, or magnetism.. Neutron reflectometers typically belong to the instrument suites at different facilities spread all over the world and make an important contribution in various research fields, e.g., concerning polymer coatings, energy storage, or magnetism.2–4 These instruments require a neutron source, in the form of a research reactor or a spallation source. The latter typically offers the advantage of naturally providing a pulsed neutron beam to employ the time of flight (ToF) technique
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