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2. INTRODUCTION
The development of neutron-scattering facilities and research
applications worldwide has shown dramatic growth and change
during the past decade. The most notable example of these
changes is found in the emergence of the British/French/German
Center at the Ins titut Laue-Langevin at Grenoble, but its
development is only part of a major transformation of the
field that has occurred throughout Western Europe and more
recently in the United States and Japan. Over the past
25 years the unique characteristics of the neutron as a
probe of condensed matter has transformed much of our fundamental
understanding of the physics and chemistry of materials.
In the last decade a new generation of cold and thermal
neutron instruments has been developed (particularly in
Europe) that has extended the wave-vector range and energy
resolution for neutron experiments by orders of magnitude.
These in turn have opened up new research in physics and
chemistry and have greatly expanded the application of neutron
scattering in new areas--materials science, polymers, and
biology. For example, the neutron-scattering community
in Europe has tripled in the past decade, and, more recently,
there has been a great increase in the size of the neutron-
scattering community in the United States. Moreover, in
the past few years the development of higher-intensity pulsed
neutron sources has also created new opportunities for neutron-
scattering research using higher neutron energies. The
impact of these emerging neutron-research opportunities
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on U.S. science has been addressed by two reports over the
past 6 years: the NAS-sponsored study, Neutron Research
I. ~ ~5 ~ in 1977 and the Renort of the Review
Panel on Neutron Scattering, sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE), which in 1980 presented a study of U.S.
neutron-research capabilities centered around priority
recommendations for neutron facilities of the DOE. We refer
the reader to these earlier studies for a detailed review
of the unique role of the neutron as a probe of materials.
Both of these reports emphasized the much greater investment
and facility advances that were being made in overseas neutron-
scattering research and recommended steps to be taken to
assure an internationally competitive position for the United
States in neutron scattering.
While some of these
recommendations have been addressed at least in part, most
have not, and total funding has shown little change in real
dollars over the past 6 years. The present study is the
response to a request by the Solid State Sciences Committee
of the National Research Council, and attempts to provide
an objective up-to-date assessment of the current status
of O.S. research accomplishments and capabilities in this
fast-moving field, including a review of recent trends in
the American neutron-scattering user community. Critical
gaps in U.S. neutron-research capabilities with respect
to modern facilities at other international centers are
also highlighted.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
neutron scattering
