Posted by: Christian Vettier in workshop, tennessee, simulation, science, Scandinavia, research, neutron scattering, McStas, knoxville, it, ill, icns, ess scandinavia, energy, conference on
May 26, 2009
Scandinavia was highly represented at the ICNS meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee. Scandinavian scientists gave three invited talks and several (8) oral contributions, not counting many posters. In total, 30 contributions were presented by scientists affiliated in Scandinavia, which is a very large number compared to other countries, but reflects the expertise and experience of Scandinavia in the field of neutron research. Moreover, a parallel one-day workshop on neutron instrument simulation was organised by McStas experts from Copenhagen and Risø (and ILL!) where neutron scientists could get some training in instrument modeling.
This does not come as a surprise since the neutron community in Scandinavia has developed neutron science for decades through the research carried out at the facilities for neutron scattering in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
- In Denmark, Risø National Laboratory (now Risø DTU) has an outstanding international reputation in neutron diffraction and neutron scattering research and has been developed over the years thanks to their reactor-based neutron facility. Risø has had a seminal role in neutron methods and has had an impact on all neutron instruments. All the expertise acquired there has been passed on to other neutron centres in the world, in particular SINQ at PSI, Switzerland, where Danish scientists are operating several instruments.
- In Sweden, scientists are using neutron scattering methods in soft condensed matter, in physics and chemistry in engineering sciences; they work at the ILL, Grenoble, at ISIS in UK, at PSI in Switzerland, but also in Germany. In Sweden, experiments were performed at the Swedish research reactor R2 in Studsvik. The NFL - Studsvik Neutron Research Laboratory was a leading institute for neutron sciences. As a company, Studsvik operates not only in Sweden, but also in UK, Germany or USA and has a further company segment for Global Services.
- In Norway, the research reactor JEEP II at Kjeller (Institute for Energy Technology, IFE, near Oslo) is a national resource for material physics research and neutron irradiation technology. The availability of this multi-purpose reactor is kept very high to content the many user-groups.
All these centres have joined forces to develop modeling tools to optimise various neutron instruments, which explains why the Copenhagen / Roskilde group is acquired such high repute in neutron instrument modeling and virtual experiments run on computers.
As a complement to the international organisation now being built up by ESS Scandinavia for designing and developing the accelerator driven, next generation neutron source in Sweden; the 273 neutron users in Scandinavia will provide us with a solid base of supporting expertise right in the neighbourhoods of Lund!
The closing address to ICNS was given by a lyrical Sunil Sinha, in great form. Sunil reviewed the impact of neutron scattering methods on major fields of science, stressing the uniqueness of neutrons but also the complementarity with synchrotron x-rays. He said, and he was absolutely right, that modern neutron sources sit next to synchrotron x-rays sources. This is why ESS will be built next to the MAX IV synchrotron!
Here we all are in Knoxville, 28 brave souls from Scandinavia - 7 from the ESSS Secretariat - who have run the gauntlet of swine flu and the possible end of civilisation as we know it, to attend the International Conference on Neutron Scattering in Tennessee.
With our specially designed shirts (thanks Karl !) we are quite a visible presence here, demonstrating the very solid scientific strength which Scandinavia has in neutron scattering. When we get a delegate list we can see whether in fact we are the largest delegation. Neither has the weather been kind to the organisers, with tornado warnings on Sunday, but we were thoughtfully supplied with umbrellas in our delegate pack, a nice practical touch - just like the delegates to the Bilbao meeting a few weeks ago were. There was lots of reminiscing about the warm sunny weather which we had left behind us in Lund but we have been warmly welcomed here.
Last night the whole Scandinavian team all went out to dinner together at Calhouns waterfront restaurant, an inspired choice of Sofie, Therèse and Johan, since the heavens opened up especially for us and it was quite dramatic over the Tennessee river. Waterfront was therefore the word. We had a really lovely evening with the friendliest waiter and waitress you could imagine. Such enthusiasm and involvement with the (admittedly good-looking!) Scandianvians.
Interestingly, a senior local fellow had earlier asked me how things were doing at ILL. I told him that they had said goodbye to that old guy who used to be there about three years ago and had replaced him with a (somewhat !) younger version (news can travel slowly sometimes...) and that now I was in Sweden. "Oh", he replied with a glazed look in his eye, "the weather must be really bad there." As he said this I glanced out of the window - there was a torrential rainstorm outside, with cars being washed down the street in front of my eyes (no, no... I made that last bit up!). But it is really interesting how we as humankind comfort ourselves with preconceived ideas. I resisted saying (as I admit I sometimes do) that the Polar bears have migrated north for the summer now and the streets of Lund are safe for a few weeks. Let us hope that the imminent decision on the siting of ESS will be made objectively, setting aside preconceived ideas which all of us carry around with us. I feel confident that that is in fact happening.
I'm walking around the booths at the ICNS exhibition center where ESS Scandinavia is represented in Knoxville, Tennessee. There seems to be a concern here on the value of neutron methods and the impact of neutron scattering in science. This is quite a serious point at a time when the ESS is being debated. In Europe, we (neutron centres) have made some efforts to reach out towards the general public.
The ILL has produced wonderful brochures of which I've been the editor. ESS Scandinavia has also done a great job with the "Neutrons & Health" booklet where we explain how neutron science amongst other things can help us understand living processes, the motion of molecules in a cell, seeing the proteins more clearly and develop drug design etc. We are also preparing a new booklet on "Neutrons for Society/Neutrons for Science" - a real must for all of you who would like to understand more about neutron scattering, how it develops materials science and benefits mankind through research!
I feel that it is up to the neutron centres to tackle the impact question regarding the value of neutron scattering in scinence by themselves. They should not wait for someone else to do the job. ESS Scandinavia is committed to promote and increase the awareness of neutron science in society, develop the research community and strengthening the interaction between x-ray users and and neutron users.
The McStas team is happy to announce that a McStas event has been arranged in connection with ICNS 2009 in Knoxville, TN.
The event will take place
May 3rd 2009, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, room 300 c/d, Knoxville convention centre.
The preliminary program is
Morning session:
| 9:00-9:05 | Welcome by the McStas team |
| 9:05-9:15 | Overview of new features expected in McStas 2.0 |
| 9:15-9:25 | Overview of recent virtual experiment studies performed |
| 9:25-10:35 | 7 x 10-minute talk/feedback inputs from McStas users |
| 10:35-10:50 | Coffee break |
| 10:50-12:00 | 7 x 10-minute talk/feedback inputs from McStas users |
Afternoon session:
| 14:00-14:10 | Brief McStas introduction for new users |
| 14:10-17:00 | Hands on session / installation help for new users |
Registration
For more information and registration for the event, see the event page.
