FRM II news - No 1 - Yet Another News Letter - December 2008

Sep 4, 2026

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FRM II news No 1 (December 2008) outlines operational progress and upcoming developments for neutron usage at the FRM II in Garching, emphasizing continued innovation despite ongoing commissioning. It reports improvements and new capabilities across multiple neutron instruments and facilities, including SPODI and the PGAA facility, and details technical enhancements such as focusing upgrades, software algorithms, and updated measurement setups. The issue also highlights planned events and institutional collaboration, covering user-office activities and ongoing reactor-related planning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Instrumentation

Improved Flux, Better Software at SPODI

Unique Inspection in 3D: PGAA Facility

Events

8th German Neutron Scattering Conference

Open Day 2008

Workshop: Biomolecular Dynamics and Protein-Water Interactions

DGK Workshop: Neutrons for Crystallographers

JCNS Workshop 2008: Modern Trends in Neutron Instrumentation

12th JCNS Lab Course

Science & Projects

FEMaS Kick-off Meeting

From Molecular Motions to Pharmaceutical Products

Inside

The Radiation Protection Team

Improved Silicon Doping Facility

User Office

User Development at FRM II

Call for Proposals

Reactor Cycles / Upcoming

FRM II news No 1 YANL Yet Another News Letter ? Dear colleagues and friends, About three years ago we started our routine operation of the reactor in May 2005, while still struggling with the commissioning of the first instruments. In the mean time we have passed proposal round 8, but routine does not mean stagnation. Even thoughthe neutron guide hall west is now crowded with instruments, new projects and ideas still appear nearly every month. The planning of the instrumentation in new guide hall east is almost settled. Nevertheless, the major work for the connection of the eastbuilding to the reactor in order to transfer neutrons and positrons remains to be done. Large projects like the ultra cold neutron source or new infrastructure buildings are emerging. A major step next year will be the increased participation of the Helmholtz centres at the FRM II leading to substantial changes in our institute. News are exiting, but without an appropriate communication they tend to be lost in the daily business. This news letter will try to keep you informed about our latest developments concerning the usage of the neutrons in Garching. Furthermore we want to report on groups doing service and science at the FRM II. The different authors of the contributions presented here may remind you that the FRM II is based on the strong collaboration of scientific groups from all over Germany present here on-site. Jürgen Neuhaus Deputy Director FRM II December 2008 ~~Deadlines Proposal Rounds~~ FRM II (No 9) January 16th, 2009 [user.frm2.tum.de](user.frm2.tum.de) JCNS (No 5) April 6th, 2009 ~~ f[zj.frm2.tum.de](zj.frm2.tum.de) ~~ CONTENTS Instrumentation -2- SPODI -3- PGAA -4- NEPOMUC -5- J-NSE -6- N-REX+ -7- Sample Environment Events -8- 8th German Neutron Scattering Conference -9- Open Day 2008 -9- Workshop: Biomolecular Dynamics and Protein-Water Interactions -10- DGK Workshop: Neutrons for Crystallographers -11- JCNS Workshop 2008: Modern Trends in Neutron Instrumentation -12- 12th JCNS Lab Course Science & Projects -13- FEMaS Kick-off Meeting -14- From Molecular Motions to Pharmaceutical Products Inside -16- The Radiation Protection Team -17- Improved Silicon Doping Facility User Office -18- User Development at FRM II -18- Call for Proposals -19- Reactor Cycles/ Upcoming [www.frm2.tum.de](www.frm2.tum.de) Instrumentation Improved Flux, Better Software at SPODI During the first half of 2008 the performance of the high-resolution powder diffractometer SPODI has been improved both by a new monochromator focusing unit and a new algorithm for the data evaluation. The new monochromator focusing unit allows continuous change of the focusing distance from 1.4 m to ∞ . With this device both the flux and the profile of the incident neutron beam were improved resulting in higher counting rates of about 50 % . With respect to data evaluation, a new algorithm has been implemented in the data treatment software to overcome asymmetric broadening effects at low scattering angles, when using the full detector height of 300 mm. Fig. 3: Comparison of integrated peak profiles for various data extraction procedures. Fig. 1: Two-dimensional data set of a corundum reference sample. The straight white lines define a detector height of 150 mm and 0 denotes the centre of the detector. The dotted white lines encompass the data used in the “300 mm-variable height” data set. As a consequence of the vertically divergent beam and the sample height, the Debye-Scherrer rings (figure 1) are smeared out along the vertical direction, resulting in peak broadening and asymmetry especially at low and high scattering angles (figure 2) . So far, good peak profiles could only be obtained by limiting the detector height to about 150 mm (the straight lines in figure 1) . In order to include the full height at the less affected intermediate 2θ-range, an algorithm has been developed that uses a

FAQs

What is the purpose of FRM II news No 1?

The newsletter keeps colleagues informed about the latest developments in using neutrons in Garching and reports on groups performing service and science at FRM II.

What improvements were made to the SPODI instrument in 2008?

SPODI performance was improved by a new monochromator focusing unit and a new data-evaluation algorithm that addresses asymmetric broadening effects at low scattering angles.

What is PGAA and what advantages does it provide?

Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGAA) is a non-destructive technique for determining elemental composition, offering shorter irradiation times than standard NAA and simpler sample preparation.

Sep 4, 2026

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