LECTURES

Insight into the structure and movement of materials: Neutron proliferation now and in the future

The Neutronen is a particle without electric charge and it can therefore penetrate far into materials. Slow neutrons with well-defined speed can also be described as waves. Therefore, interference effects will occur when a neutron spreads from an arrangement of atoms, such as the In a crystal. These patterns can be used to determine the interposition of atoms, just as you know from light and X-rays.

X-rays are most sensitive to heavy elements, while neutrons spread the strongest on lightweight elements, especially hydrogen.
A combination of X-ray and neutron measurements is therefore often used to determine the positions of atoms. As an added bonus, neutrons can feel magnetism in materials, and they can be used to measure all the movement of the atoms in the material.

Experiments with neutrons take place exclusively on large foreign facilities. Danish researchers are engaged in the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and in the Institut Laue-Langevin in France. This lecture will address discoveries with neutrons in the last 5-10 years within the structure of polymers and proteins for medical purposes; Materials for the conversion of heat energy to electric current; And the behavior of the enigmatic high-temperature superconductors. All discoveries have been made by Danish researchers on these two facilities.

The lecture will also address the plans for the future. The world's largest facility for neutron proliferation, the European Spallation Source (ESS), must be located in Lund, less than an hour's drive from Denmark. The ESS will cost about 12 billion kroner and will be built in the period 2012-2018. We will look at what opportunities this opens up for Danish research in the future

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Insight into the structure and movement of materials: Neutron proliferation now and in the future

Date: 25. OCT 2010
Time: 19:30:00

Lecturer: Kim Lefmann
Institution: Nanofysik, NBI
Address:

The Lecture is held: Geological Museum

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