In this section
IMAT
IMAT is a neutron instrument for non-destructive, in-situ imaging and diffraction, enabling research across a broad range of fields including functional materials, advanced manufacturing, industrial components, clean energy technologies, batteries, earth sciences, cultural heritage, and plant sciences.
Instrument scientists
To find out more about each team member, click the + symbol.
Technical information
Main instrument parameters
| General
|
Available (standard) wavelength range | 0.7 – 10 (1-7) Å |
| Flight path to sample | 56 m | |
| Imaging
|
L: distance pinhole – sample
D: aperture diameter |
10 m
5,10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100 mm |
| L/d | 2000, 1000, 500, 333, 250, 170, 125, 100 | |
| Best spatial resolution | 60 μm | |
| Maximum field of view | 200 x 200 mm2 | |
| Wavelength resolution | Δλ/λ = 0.8% (at 3 Å) | |
| Time-integrated neutron flux | 5 X 107 n/cm2/sec (for L/D: 100) | |
| Diffraction at 90o
|
Secondary flight path | 2.0 m |
| Detector coverage (each of the two arrays) | 30 x 60 o
(horizontal x vertical) |
|
| Diffraction resolution | Δd/d = 0.8% (at 3Å) | |
| Radial collimator size | 1, 2, 5 mm |
IMAT imaging detectors
| Berkeley MCP (Timepix 2) | ||
| Camera/detector parameters | Field of view | 28 x 28 mm2 |
| Pixel size | 55 μm | |
| Number of pixels | 512 x 512 | |
| Number of time bins | 5000 | |
| Smallest time bin | ~10 ns | |
| Registers per pixel | 1 | |
| Detection efficiency | Up to 40% for cold neutrons | |
| Energy selection options and special features | TOF: Triggered by source. Energy dispersive. High neutron detection efficiency. | |
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| Messina Tomography Camera Box | ||
| Camera/detector parameters
|
Field of view | 65 x 65 mm2 to 210 x 210 mm2 |
| Effective pixel size | 30 to 103 μm | |
| ANDOR Ikon-L 936 CCD | ||
| Camera/detector parameters | Number of pixels | Cooled to -70˚C, 2048 x 2048 |
| Energy selection options and special features | White beam camera; coarse energy selection via choppers. | |
| ANDOR Zyla sCMOS 4.2 Plus | ||
| Camera/detector parameters | Number of pixels | Cooled to 0˚C, 2048 x 2048 |
| Energy selection options and special features | White beam camera; coarse energy selection via choppers. | |
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| nGEM gas electron multiplier | ||
| Camera/detector parameters | Field of view | 100 x 100 mm2 |
| Number of pixels | 125 x 125 | |
| Effective pixel size | ~800 μm | |
Related resources
This link takes you to the IMAT user manual.
Software
Mantid Imaging for imaging data processing, tomography reconstruction.
ImageJ for image processing.
NEAT for Bragg edge imaging data analysis.
Avizo and Dragonfly for tomography visualization available through Ada.
Recent publications
Instrument reference
All publications and datasets based on experiments using IMAT should cite that the data is collected by DOI: 10.5286/isis.instrument.1691. Experiment DOIs follow the format 10.5286/ISIS.E.RBXXXXXXX, where XXXXXXX is the 7-digit experiment (RB) number and these can be viewed via the Data Gateway.
Reference paper: Characterization of the new neutron imaging and materials science facility IMAT, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 888, 2018, 184-195. DOI:10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.037.