ISIS is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford in the United Kingdom. Our suite of neutron and muon instruments allow the properties of materials to be understood at the scale of atoms.
We support a national and international community of more than 2000 scientists for research into subjects ranging from clean energy and the environment, pharmaceuticals and health care, through to nanotechnology, materials engineering and IT.
News and Events
Tuesday 17 April 2012
The 2012 UK Neutron and Muon Users Meeting (NMUM) will take place on 17 April 2012 at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
Tuesday 07 February 2012
The recently completed upgrade to the Polaris powder diffractometer instrument at ISIS was demonstrated to be a success when the first data sets were collected on the new instrument at the end of 2011.
Wednesday 01 February 2012
More than 500 people visited the ISIS neutron source on Saturday 28 January in a rare opportunity to see inside this world-leading research centre based at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
Monday 09 January 2012
The ISIS Practical Neutron Training Course is aimed at PhD and post-doctoral researchers who have little or no experience of neutron scattering, but whose future research program aims to make use of neutron scattering techniques.
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Engineers and scientists at STFC’s ISIS neutron source faced nervous moments on Friday (11 November 2011) when a new £4 million instrument that took five years to design and build, was lifted and lowered into its fixed position by a 30 tonne crane.
Monday 24 October 2011
A new fast-track programme to widen the use of neutron and muon beams for industry research is now available at Oxfordshire’s ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
Target Station 2
Monday 06 June 2011
After years of planning, building has begun for the first of the ISIS Second Target Station phase two instruments.
The £145 million ISIS second target station project was completed in 2009 on time and to budget. All seven Phase One neutron instruments are operational.
The Phase Two Instruments Project at the ISIS second target station will build four new instruments together with the necessary advanced detectors, electronics and software.
Three key research themes guide the design of the Second Target Station.
Science at ISIS
Thursday 09 February 2012
Recent studies at the ISIS neutron source, the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) world leading research centre, have given a new insight into the mysterious ‘anti-freeze’ capabilities of glycerol – a property successfully used in nature, by animals such as lizards, for survival at sub-zero temperatures.
Tuesday 08 November 2011
Using a combination of techniques, the unique structure of an important plant defense protein is discovered, which could have implications in drug delivery systems and antibiotics.
Monday 09 January 2012
Neutron scattering experiments have given a new insight into how E. coli bacteria, often associated with food poisoning, kill each other in the evolutionary competition for food and space. This breakthrough could be fundamental in developing new ways to treat illnesses such as food poisoning or meningitis.
Tuesday 15 November 2011
While covalent bonds are usually formed by sharing two electrons between two atoms, some compounds contain B–H–B bonds in which an electron pair is distributed over three sites.
Making an impact
Wednesday 14 December 2011
Xpress beam time is becoming an increasingly popular service amongst ISIS users. Running for the past four years, the Xpress service offers users the opportunity to run test experiments or check sample quality before applying for a full beam time proposal.
Tuesday 29 November 2011
The hugely successful collaboration between ISIS and Japanese research institutes RIKEN and J-PARC has been highlighted during the UK-Japan Joint Commission on Science and Technology Cooperation held in London, Monday 28 November 2011.
