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College Park, Maryland      June 6 - 10 , 2004

WP32: When Thin is Sexy – The Future of Neutron Reflectometry in Australia

M. James, A. Nelson, J. C. Schulz (Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Australia)

Neutron reflectometry is used to probe the structure of surfaces, thin-films or buried interfaces as well as processes occurring at surfaces and interfaces. Applications cover adsorbed surfactant layers, self-assembled monolayers, biological membranes, electrochemical and catalytic interfaces, polymer coatings and photosensitive films. Contrast variation and selective deuteration of hydrogenous materials are important aspects of the neutron-based technique. Neutron reflectometry probes the structure of materials normal to the surface at depths of up to several thousand Ĺ, with an effective depth resolution of a few Ĺ.

Neutron reflectometry experiments have been performed by a number of Australian researchers at overseas facilities for more than a decade, however this capability has previously been absent in this country. We report instrument details as well as commissioning experiment results from Australia’s first neutron reflectometer at the 10MW HIFAR facility at Lucas Heights. This instrument has now become part of the AINSE User Program and is accepting beam time proposals from Australian and International researchers.

A neutron reflectometer has been recognised as one of the highest priority instruments to be constructed at the new 20MW research reactor facility at Lucas Heights (due for completion in 2006). In this presentation we also report the design of the horizontal sample, time-of-flight reflectometer to be constructed at the new research facility.

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