ORNL Neutron Users New Instrument Workshop
The Hotel at the University of Maryland
June 24, 2018
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has identified opportunities to build new instruments at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) that will provide researchers with new, cutting-edge neutron scattering capabilities.
The ORNL Neutron Users New Instrument Workshop (June 24, 2018) will be held as a satellite to and in the same venue as the American Conference on Neutron Scattering (June 24-28, 2018). This one-day workshop is a forum for the user community to identify needed new science capabilities and provide input into the prioritization for building new instruments. The workshop is arranged to maximize the time available for deliberation and discussion in science-themed working groups and is being organized by the SNS-HFIR User Group (SHUG) Executive Committee.
Over the past three years, ORNL has conducted a series of rigorous internal and external reviews of existing neutron scattering instruments at the SNS and the HFIR. The purpose was to improve the overall performance and productivity of the instruments, to be more responsive to community needs and technological advances, and to identify opportunities for improving or establishing new instrument capabilities in strategic areas of science. With input from these reviews, ORNL has made and continues to make significant improvements to the current instrument suites that have already provided new capabilities. In addition to identifying critical instrument upgrades, these reviews also identified capability gaps that could be addressed with new instruments. Instrument specific workshops have solicited community input to explore the science that could be addressed with new capabilities and define instrument technical parameters.
ORNL now seeks guidance from the research community on priorities for building new instruments. This workshop is organized around science-themed working groups that will prepare brief reports that focus on:
- Examining the current state of research within their science focus areas and its outlook over the next 5-10 years (consistent with the time-horizon for completing new instruments).
- Identifying the neutron scattering capabilities that are currently lacking but would have the highest impact in their respective fields.
- Prioritizing instrument concepts that are most needed by researchers in their theme area.
On June, 1, 2018 the Neutron Sciences Directorate will host a half-hour Bluejeans Webinar which will give an overview of currently identified opportunities for new instruments at SNS and HFIR. There will be time for questions and feedback after the overview. Please click here to register for the webinar and you will receive the joining information and a calendar invitation.
