Proteins, as elements of the ingested food, can form structures at multiple spatial scales. We studied digestion of canola protein heat-set gels and monitored their structure by SANS (LLB), SAXS (Synchrotron Soleil) and Neutron Imaging (PSI). SANS coupled with Neutron imaging provided information about digested “real-like” foods on nm (local protein re-arrangements) and µm scale (large...
ODIN is ESS state-of-the-art multipurpose Neutron Imaging Instrument, designed and being built by TUM and PSI. Using wavelength-resolved imaging with tuneable medium to high wavelength resolution, will provide significantly increased chemical and structural sensitivity compared to other neutron imaging instruments, with fixed (or absent) wavelength resolutions. We present some of the design...
The cold chopper spectometer CSPEC at the ESS is a joint project from the Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany, and the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (LLB), Saclay, France. CSPEC will benefit from the high brilliance of the ESS spallation in addition to the cumulative flux provided by repetition rate multiplication (RRM) that results in large flux gains. CSPEC is in the construction...
The European neutron source (ESS) in Lund in Sweden should see its first neutrons in 2025 and welcome its first users in early 2027. One of the first operational instruments will be DREAM, a diffractometer developed and built for ESS by the consortium (Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) / Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (France)).
I will present the DREAM project and its current status.
Starting in 2017, IN6 has been operated by a LLB as a CRG and the design of a brand new IN6 secondary spectrometer. This was the SHARP (Spectromètre Hybride Alpe Région Parisienne) project. On March 2021, the first neutrons have enlightened the brand-new instrument. From 2021 to 2024, the primary spectrometer has been fully redesigned and built and the instrument is now SHARPER (SHARP Etendu...
The instrument ERWIN, currently being assembled at MLZ, is a high-efficiency powder diffractometer designed for rapid data collection, time-resolved measurements, parametric studies and investigations on small samples.This contribution will provide an overview on applications, specifications and the current status of the instrument.
The hydrogen storage performance of a reactive hydride composite, Mg(NH$_2$)$_2$ + 2LiH, can be significantly improved by the addition of Li(BH$_4$) and the subsequent formation of an amide–borohydride compound Li$_4$(BH$_4$)(NH$_2$)$_3$ during hydrogen release. This improvement has been attributed to the enhanced hydrogen mobility in the latter compound, due to which the reaction becomes...
We address the physics of Ionic Liquids charged with lithium salts under confinement in a carbon nanotube (CNT) based membrane. In bulk, we combine QENS, PFG-NMR and rheology to highlight a one order of magnitude difference of the transport quantities, depending whether they are inferred at the molecular or at the micrometric scale. We probe the same IL confined in the CNT membranes. Compared...
The customized SAXS/WAXS instrument commenced user operation in April 2023. As a young member of our small-angle scattering instrument family, which utilizes X-rays as the primary beam, the new instrument is equipped with a high-flux Metal-Jet source and a movable Eiger 2R 4M SAXS detector. Additionally, it features a 4-axis motorized WAXS detector and a Bonse-Hart USAXS, enabling a wide range...
Recently developed event-driven detectors are capable of registering spots of light induced by neutron interactions in scintillators. Reconstructing the center-of-mass of the individual interactions, it is possible to significantly enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of recorded radiographs. Utilizing this principle, we present a novel detector concept capable of Time-of-Flight imaging with...
The Fractal dimension (Df) is a key structural parameter of the networks formed by several food systems. In the present work, dairy gels from skim milk at different concentrations are formed via two different mechanisms: acidification, and enzymic (rennet)-induction. Oscillatory rheology, and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (USANS) studies are performed to characterize their structural...
The original robot setup at the neutron diffractometer STRESS-SPEC has been upgraded to a high accuracy positioning/metrology system. I will give a short introduction on the complete measurement process chain for the new robot environment. To achieve a spatial accuracy of 50 µm or better during measurement of the strain tensor, the sample position is tracked by a camera system and actively...
SAM, a medium size small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument developed by the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin and the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), is part of the ILL "Endurance II" rejuvenation programme. This SANS instrument with a polarised beam option will be also equipped with a “MIEZE” option, for high-resolution spectroscopy with sub-μeV resolution. Following current friendly user...
The new instrument SAPHiR is dedicated to time-of-flight neutron diffraction and radiography of powder samples, fluids, and melts at pressures up to 15 GPa and temperatures between 86–2300 K. Future applications include in-situ crystallography and phase relations of light-element-bearing phases, equations of state, reaction kinetics, and radiography for the Earth and materials sciences....
Food colloids are part of everyone’s life: milk, yogurt or cheese. Socio-economical trends demand for more sustainable, plant-based food formulations, but represent a scientific challenge. Colloidal systems have been studied, but not fully understood. Xray and neutron scattering techniques deliver the nanoscale mechanisms. We commenced with traditional food colloids stabilized by beta...
Neutron and synchrotron radiation diffraction studies are often conducted to investigate the structure of batteries and their components. While most of the research in this field has focused on the electrode materials, there have been fewer studies on the electrolytes that mediate charge transfer. This work presents a systematic approach to determining the structure of ethylene carbonate,...
The HBS („High Brilliance neutron Source”) is an ambitious HiCANS project being developed by the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS). The technical design report [1] for the facility has been published in 2023 featuring the accelerator (protons, 70 MeV, 100 mA), three individual target-moderator-reflector stations and the associated instrumentation, which will allow scientific...
The Laboratoire Léon Brillouin is developing the technologies necessary to build a new type of neutron source using low energy proton accelerators: High Current Compact Accelerator driven neutron sources (HiCANS).
The long-term goal is to eventually build a new user facility, ICONE, which would offer a suite of 10 neutron scattering instruments to the French community. We aim at achieving...
SAXS and SANS combined with modeling have proved to be essential techniques in structural biology when the classical high-resolution methods are not appropriate. The “contrast matching” method in SANS is particularly suitable to specifically probe membrane proteins by contrast-matching their amphiphilic environment. I will illustrate this feature with TSPO translocator protein, a ubiquitous...
POWTEX, a future TOF neutron powder diffractometer @MLZ is funded by BMBF (05K22PA2) and built by RWTH Aachen and Forschungszentrum Jülich. The innovative design resulted in advance components, i.e. the 10B jalousie volume detector with large coverage. POWTEX is designed for short measurement times, allowing in situ chemical experiments and texture analysis with reduced sample rotations....
