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Abstract:
NRC Canadian Neutron Beam Centre in Chalk River are running a one-day workshop this Summer on neutron reflectometry: a powerful tool for research in nanostructured materials.

NRC Neutron Reflectometry Workshop

Posted on March 30, 2006

NRC Canadian Neutron Beam Centre in Chalk River is running a one-day workshop this Summer on neutron reflectometry: a powerful tool for research in nanostructured materials. The workshop coincides with the commissioning of a new instrument in the suite of neutron spectrometers at the lab: a dedicated reflectometer. The new instrument will be world-class; it is being built by the University of Western Ontario, NRC and 13 partners.

Neutrons possess a number of properties that make them excellent probes of material:

they are gentle on material samples, not usually altering the structures they are measuring
they are sensitive to light and heavy atoms, hydrogen to uranium
they are sensitive to isotopes because they interact with the atomic nucleus
they are penetrating and can probe several centimetres even into dense materials
they have a magnetic moment and can explore magnetic phenomena

Neutron diffraction probes molecular structures and dynamics. Neutron reflectometry however looks at longer length-scale structures up into the nanometre range. It is a powerful technique for investigating surfaces and interfaces, thin films, nanostructures, biomembranes and magnetic films. Neutrons can probe buried interfaces within samples, and measure transient effects as changes occur under conditions of heat, pressure, acidity, humidity or other environmental variables.

For more information about the science, or the plans for the workshop, see the NRC web site.

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Contact:
Alastair McIvor
613 584 8811 x6274
alastair.mcivor@nrc.gc.ca

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