Large Scale Structures

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There is an increasing trend towards materials with designed properties, whether electrical, thermal, biological, chemical, magnetic or physical. To design these materials scientists need to understand the underlying molecular structures. We provide a tool to find this information.

Science and technology is continuously seeking to design better drugs, more efficient power sources, new display technologies, higher storage densities and greener chemical processes to name but a few areas of interest. To do so, a better understanding is needed of the structure of the materials used and the interactions and processes they go through.

Neutron Reflectometry (NR) probes interfacial structure. This enormously broad area includes such diverse systems as proteins interacting at a cell membrane, magnetic coupling in a multilayer stack and surfactants in solutions. The shape of a reflectivity profile tells us about layer thickness, concentration of material at the interface, roughness of surfaces and, especially if the neutrons are polarised, magnetism.

Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) looks primarily at bulk materials. One can study such things as polymers, the formation of micelles in solutions or voids or defects in a material. A SANS measurement can yield information about the size of these structures, their shape, and how they are ordered.

Many reactions or interactions take place at extremes of temperature, pressure, magnetic field or in a non-ambient atmosphere. We provide sample environment equipment to achieve these conditions.