Beamline

The NSUF offers researchers access to a broad range of facilities with beamlines, including accelerator facilities for radiation damage experiments, synchrotron radiation studies, neutron diffraction and imaging, and positron and neutron activation analysis.

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Argonne National Laboratory

ANL's Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy (IVEM)-Tandem Facility is unique in its ability to image the changes in atomic structure and defect formation during irradiation at high magnification. The IVEM-Tandem Facility offers researchers the ability to observe defect formation and evolution in real time during irradiation in well-controlled experimental conditions (constant specimen orientation and area, specimen temperature, ion type, ion energy, dose rate, dose, and applied strain). High-dose ion damage is produced in hours, rather than the years such damage would require in a nuclear reactor, supporting studies of material response to high doses of particle (ion and neutron) irradiation, and the in situ ion irradiation does not produce any radioactivity in samples. 

Technical Point of Contact: Wei-Ying Chen ([email protected] or 630-252-5222)

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BNL's National Synchotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) enables the study of material properties and functions with nanoscale resolution and exquisite sensitivity by providing world-leading capabilities for X-ray imaging and high-resolution energy analysis. The NSLS-II is a medium energy (3.0 GeV) electron storage ring designed to deliver photons with high average spectral brightness exceeding 1021 ph/s in the 2 – 10 keV energy range and a flux density exceeding 1015 ph/s in all spectral ranges. This performance requires the storage ring to support a very high-current electron beam (I = 500 mA) with a very small horizontal (down to 0.5 nm-rad) and vertical (8 pm-rad) emittance. The electron beam will be stable in its position (<10% of its size), angle (<10% of its divergence), dimensions (<10%), and intensity (±0.5% variation).

Technical Point of Contact: Simerjeet Gill ([email protected] or 631-344-5633)

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Idaho National Laboratory

The Neutron Radiography Reactor at INL's Materials and Fuels Complexis is a 300-kilowatt TRIGA research reactor that first went online at INL in 1977. NRAD is capable of performing small-scale material activation in one of two irradiation locations within the reactor core. Irradiation/activation experiments may be placed in either the dry irradiation tube, positioned at the edge of the reactor core, or in the wet tube located in the center of the reactor core.

Both dysprosium and cadmium-covered indium foils are used as neutron detector foils. These are irradiated in the neutron beam, then transferred to a film cassette and allowed to decay for three to four half-lives against ordinary X-ray film to form the image. The dysprosium foils, used for thermal neutron radiographs of low-enriched fuels and thin structural materials, produce excellent detail, but specimen thickness and fuel enrichment is limited. The indium foils are used for epithermal neutron radiographs of highly enriched fuels and thicker structural materials. 

Technical Point of Contact: Aaron Craft ([email protected] or 208-533-7673)

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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

LLNL's Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) hosts a 10-MV FN tandem Van de Graaff accelerator, a NEC 1-MV tandem accelerator and a soon to be commissioned 250KV single stage AMS deck to perform up to 25,000 AMS measurement per year, as well as a a NEC 1.7-MV tandem accelerator for ion beam analysis and microscopy. The research and development made possible by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and ion beam analytical techniques is diverse and includes geochronology (for archaeology, paleoclimatology, paleoseismology, and other disciplines); neotectonics; geomorphology; ground water hydrogeology; carbon-cycle dynamics; oceanic and atmospheric chemistry; bioavailability, and metabolism of chemicals, toxic compounds, and nutrients; forensic reconstruction of Hiroshima and Chernobyl dosimetry; detection of signatures of nuclear fuel reprocessing for nonproliferation purposes; material analysis and modification studies; as well as nuclear physics cross-section measurements and nuclear chemistry studies. 

Technical Point of Contact: Scott Tumey ([email protected] or 925-423-9012)

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Los Alamos National Laboratory 

The Lujan Center at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is one of five user facilities supported by the LANSCE accelerator. The Lujan Center instruments operate in time-of-flight mode, receiving neutrons from a tungsten spallation target. Four moderators provide epi-thermal, thermal and cold neutrons to specialized beamlines. The instrument suite available to NSUF participants includes the Spectrometer for Materials Research at Temperature and Stress (SMARTS), a third generation neutron diffractometer optimized for the study of engineering materials; High-Pressure-Preferred Orientation (HIPPO); Energy-resolved Neutron Imaging (ERNI), providing neutrons from 1 meV to 1 keV for nuclear physics measurements; Asterix, a neutron reflectrometer for studying the structure of interfaces and for cold neutron imaging; and the Neutron Powder Diffractometer (NPDF), a high-resolution total-scattering powder diffractometer. 

Technical Point of Contact: Tarik Saleh ([email protected] or 505-665-1670)

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North Carolina State University

At the NC State University PULSTAR Reactor laboratory, an intense positron source has been developed to supply a high rate positron beam to two different positron/positronium lifetime spectrometers. The positron source is comprised of a Tungsten moderator assembly surrounded by a Cadmium shroud located adjacent tothe PULSTAR core in beamport #6. Positrons are created when gamma rays emanating from the reactor, and from neutron capture in the Cadmium shroud, interact via pair production with the Tungten nuclei. Positrons are then extracted from the moderator assembly and focused using electrostatic lenses.

Two positron spectrometer instrument stations are under development: Ps-PALS: Positronium Annihilation Lifetime Spectrometer, which will be dedicated to the measurement of lifetimes in materials where positronium formation is promoted, and e+ PALS: Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectrometer, which will be dedicated to measuring positron lifetimes on the order observed in materials such as metals and semiconductors.

Technical Point of Contact: Colby Fleming ([email protected] or 919-515-3347)

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Ohio State University

The external neutron beam line at the The Ohio State University Nuclear Reactor Laboratory (OSURR) is able to deliver a relatively-clean, small-sized (< 30 mm diameter) thermal neutron beam to a workbench, where various instruments can be set up for detector evaluation and in-situ materials characterization.  The neutron collimator consists of single-crystal sapphire and polycrystalline bismuth filters (providing fast neutron and gamma-ray filtration, respectively) followed by a parallel series of 3-cm apertures for collimation.  The thermal-equivalent neutron flux is ~4x106 n/cm2/s at the sample position, which is an optical table upon which instrumentation may be set up for in-situ testing of radiation detectors or coupons may be set up for characterizing materials, and ~2x106 n/cm2/s in the high-vacuum chamber. 

Technical Point of Contact: Raymond Cao ([email protected] or 614-688-2172)

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Purdue University

The Interaction of Materials with Particles and Components Testing (IMPACT) experimental facility has been designed to study in-situ dynamic heterogeneous surfaces at the nano-scale exposed to varied environments that modify surface and interface properties. The IMPACT facility includes ultrahigh vacuum chambers, inert gas ion sources, metal ion source, e-beam evaporator, dual anode X-ray source (Specs GmbH, Model XR50), EUV source (13.5 nm, Phoenix Model sem20), electron gun, faraday cups, hemispherical Electrostatic Analyzers (Specs, Omicron), quartz crystal microbalances, residual gas analyzers, EUV Photodiodes, effusion cell, Innova SPM

Technical Point of Contact: Ahmed Hassanein ([email protected] or 765-496-9731)

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Sandia National Laboratories

The Ion Beam Laboratory uses ion and electron accelerators to study and modify materials systems. The IBL is interested in pursuing a range of cutting edge studies, including controlled defects in materials, materials in radiation environments, and hostile environment performance. The building houses a Tandem and a Pelletron accelerator, an Implanter, a Nano-Implanter, an in-situ TEM and the Colutron. The Nano-Implanter is unique to the world, and the in-situ TEM is one of two in the U.S., putting the IBL on the forefront of developing technologies in radiation studies.

Technical Point of Contact: Khalid Hattar ([email protected] or 505-845-9859)

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Texas A&M University

The Accelerator Laboratory is one of the largest university ion irradiation facilities in the U.S. A total of five accelerators are able to deliver virtually all ions in the elemental table with ion energy from a few hundred eV to a few MeVs. The lab provides unique capabilities to perform accelerator based irradiation studies on various nuclear materials. The key facilities in the lab include: a 10 kV ion accelerator (with a gas ion source); a 150 kV Ion Accelerator (with a universal ion source); a 200 kV ion accelerator (with a universal ion source); a 1 MV ionex tandetron accelerator (with a RF plasma source and a SNICS source); a 1.7 MV ionex tandetron accelerator (with a RF plasma source and a SNICS source); a high temperature vacuum furnace; a high temperature gas furnace; a four-point-probe resistivity measurement; and various heating and cooling systems for ion irradiations at different temperatures.

All five accelerators provide mass-analyzed ion beams of most of the elements of the periodic table. 1 MV and 1.7 MV ion accelerators are modified general ionex tandetron accelerators. Each of them has its own scanning systems, electrostatic deflectors, an injector and an analyzing magnet. The general purpose chamber has been equipped with numerous unique designs for various ion beam applications.

Technical Point of Contact: Lin Shao ([email protected] or 979-845-4107)

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University of Michigan

The Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory (MIBL) was established for the purpose of advancing our understanding of ion-solid interactions by providing unique and extensive facilities to support both research and development in the field and has developed extensive capabilities in the use of accelerators directed towards the study of radiation effects by emulating neutron damage in nuclear reactor materials. The laboratory also provides a wide range of capabilities for both surface modification and analysis including a 3 MV Pelletron Tandem accelerator, 1.7 MV Tandetron accelerator, 400 kV implanter, a Multi-Beam Chamber (MBC), dedicated beamline and corrosion cell to perform in situ irradiation-corrosion of samples in contact with liquid environments, and a 400 kV accelerator and a 30 kV He source are interfaced with a 300 kV Tecnai G2 F30 transmission electron microscope. 

Technical Point of Contact: Gary Was ([email protected] or 734-936-0166)

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University of Wisconsin

The Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison houses a NEC 1.7 MV tandem accelerator. The accelerator is actively used for research aimed at advancing the science of radiation damage of materials including alloys, ceramics, and coatings. The accelerator is equipped with TORVIS and SNICS ion sources for enhanced capabilities and the samples temperature is monitored by thermocouples and IR camera. The system can presently accommodate two types of sample geometries: 3 mm TEM samples and bar samples; with irradiation area between 1.45 and 2.3 sq. cm. the facility is continually improved to meet the research needs of the scientific community involved in research on radiation damage of materials and other fundamental materials science research areas involving ion irradiation.

Technical Point of Contact: Adrien Couet ([email protected] or 608-890-3578)

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