AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS 

AND TECHNOLOGY 

CENTER FOR NEUTRON RESEARCH 

FISCAL YEAR 2010 

Panel on Neutron Research 

Laboratory Assessments Board 

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences 

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 

Washington, D.C. 

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iv 

PANEL ON NEUTRON RESEARCH 

TONYA KUHL, University of California, Davis, Chair

FRANK S. BATES, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 

DONALD M. ENGELMAN, Yale University 

PAUL A. FLEURY, Yale University 

CHRISTOPHER R. GOULD, North Carolina State University 

PETER F. GREEN, University of Michigan 

RUSSELL J. HEMLEY, Carnegie Institution of Washington 

ALAN J. HURD, Los Alamos National Laboratory 

JAMES R. LEE, Sandia National Laboratories 

HERBERT MOOK, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

SUNIL K. SINHA, University of California, San Diego 

BARBARA WYSLOUZIL, Ohio State University 

Staff 

JAMES P. McGEE, Director 

CY BUTNER, Senior Program Officer 

LIZA HAMILTON, Administrative Coordinator 

EVA LABRE, Program Associate 

 
v 

Acknowledgment of Reviewers 

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their 

diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by 

the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this 

independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the 

institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the 

report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the 

study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect 

the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for 

their review of this report: 

Ian Anderson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 

Susan Coppersmith, University of Wisconsin, 

Peter Moore, Yale University, 

R.G. Hamish Robertson, University of Washington, and 

Alton Romig, Jr., Sandia National Laboratories. 

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments 

and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor 

did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was 

overseen by Alton D. Slay, Warrenton, Virginia. Appointed by the National Research 

Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this 

report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review 

comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report 

rests entirely with the authoring panel and the institution.

vii 

Contents 

SUMMARY 1 

1 THE CHARGE TO THE PANEL AND THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS 3 

2 GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST CENTER FOR NEUTRON 5 

 RESEARCH 

3 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AT THE CENTER 8 

4 FACILITIES AND RESOURCES 14 

5 THE CENTER AS A USER FACILITY 16 

6 CONCLUSIONS 18 

1 

Summary 

The NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) is a national user facility whose 

mission is to ensure the availability of neutron-measurement capabilities to meet the 

needs of U.S. researchers from industry, universities and other academic institutions, and 

other government agencies. The NCNR continues to provide reliably a high flux of 

neutrons to an evolving suite of high-quality instruments and sample environments. The 

array of thermal and cold neutron instruments available at the NCNR enables 

measurements over a wide range of time, energy, and length scales. 

These capabilities of the NCNR play a critical role in advancing science and 

developing new technologies in the United States, and they enable the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology (NIST) to fulfill its role of promoting science, standards, 

and technology. The new instruments and upgrades associated with the planned facility 

expansion over the next few years will ensure that the NCNR continues to provide users 

with access to internationally competitive instruments. 

 As requested by the Director of NIST, the scope of the assessment of the NCNR 

by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Panel on Neutron Research included the 

following criteria: (1) the technical merit of the current laboratory programs relative to 

current state-of-the-art programs worldwide; (2) the adequacy of the laboratory budget, 

facilities, equipment, and human resources, as they affect the quality of the laboratory’s 

technical programs; and (3) the degree to which the laboratory programs in measurement 

science, standards, and services achieve their stated objectives and desired impact. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

 The panel makes the following recommendations with respect to enhancing the 

effectiveness of the NCNR in the pursuit of its goals. 

1. Collaborative partnerships of the NCNR with the Center for Nanoscale 

Science and Technology (CNST) and the Chemical Science and Technology 

Laboratory (CSTL) should be further developed to enhance the scientific 

impact of NCNR activities in the areas of nanotechnology and biological 

sciences. A joint, senior hire in membrane protein biophysics with CSTL’s 

Biochemical Science Division should be a high priority. 

2. As new facilities come online and improvements are made to the existing 

facilities worldwide, it is imperative that the NCNR carry out continual 

instrumentation renewal so as to maintain state-of-the-art instruments and 

neutron-measurement capabilities for U.S. researchers. 

3. Along with the new instruments that will become available through the NCNR 

Expansion Project, the importance of sample environments (rheometry, 

magnetic fields, humidity, and other variables of importance to an experiment) 

should not be overlooked. The NCNR should continue its tradition of 

maintaining an aggressive program for their development. 

4. The NCNR, CSTL’s Biochemical Science Division, and NIST users—

especially in biological sciences—will benefit greatly if a deuteration and 
2 

isotope-labeling facility becomes available. NIST should aggressively pursue 

this objective. 

5. The continued development of robust and user-friendly data-analysis tools 

will broadly benefit the neutron scattering community and will aid in the 

growth of this community by enabling non-expert users to utilize neutron 

scattering techniques. The SASSIE software package, if fully realized, could 

have an impact similar to that of the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) 

analysis program based on the IGOR software tool, developed earlier at the 

NCNR. 

6. As highlighted by the research productivity and impact of the hard condensedmatter group in high-critical-temperature (Tc) superconductors, the close 

synergy between theory and experiment can lead to major breakthroughs. 

Such relationships should continue to be pursued across the NIST 

organizational units so as to broaden the modeling and theory capabilities 

accessible to NCNR scientists and users. 

7. With the planned transition from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low 

enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, a new deuterium cold source would be 

beneficial for maintaining the flux at the NCNR to specific instruments. The 

use of focused beams may also provide an opportunity to broaden the range of 

experimental capabilities at the NCNR. One potential concern in the future 

will be the availability of helium-3 (3

He) for detectors and cryogenics. 

8. The NCNR should regularly inform users regarding the Expansion Project. 

Changes in schedule, planned instruments and modifications, the expected 

time line for utilization of instruments, and coordination with other facilities 

will enable users to better mitigate the effects of the facility’s shutdown and 

subsequently enable them to exploit the new capabilities at the NCNR in a 

timely fashion. 

9. The NCNR has established a system that seems to preserve all safety 

requirements while keeping the openness and accessibility needed for a user 

facility. Continuing to maintain a rational security program within the 

constraints of increasing security demands is critical in order to allow efficient 

use of the facility, especially as the number of users increases with the 

Expansion Project. 
3 

1 

The Charge to the Panel and the Assessment Process 

 At the request of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National 

Research Council has, since 1959, annually assembled panels of experts from academia, 

industry, medicine, and other scientific and engineering environments to assess the 

quality and effectiveness of the NIST measurements and standards laboratories, of which 

there are now nine,1 as well as the adequacy of the laboratories’ resources. In 2010, 

NIST requested that five of its laboratories be assessed: the Building and Fire Research 

Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, the Materials Science and 

Engineering Laboratory, the NIST Center for Neutron Research, and the Physics 

Laboratory. Each of these was assessed by a separate panel of experts; the findings of the 

respective panels are summarized in separate reports. This report summarizes the 

findings of the Panel on Neutron Research. 

 For the fiscal year (FY) 2010 assessment, NIST requested that the panel consider 

the following criteria as part of its assessment: 

1. The technical merit of the current laboratory programs relative to current 

 state-of-the-art programs worldwide; 

2. The adequacy of the laboratory budget, facilities, equipment, and human 

resources, as they affect the quality of the laboratory’s technical programs; 

and 

3. The degree to which laboratory programs in measurement science, standards, 

and services achieve their stated objectives and desired impact. 

 The context of this technical assessment is the mission of NIST, which is to 

promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement 

science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve 

the quality of life. The NIST laboratories conduct research to anticipate future metrology 

and standards needs, to enable new scientific and technological advances, and to improve 

and refine existing measurement methods and services. 

 In order to accomplish the assessment, the NRC assembled a panel of 12 

volunteers, whose expertise matches that of the work performed by the NCNR staff.2

 

The panel members visited the NCNR facility at Gaithersburg, Maryland, for 2 days, 

during which time they attended presentations, tours, demonstrations, and interactive 

sessions with NCNR staff. The panel members also conducted interactive sessions with 

NCNR managers and with leaders of NCNR user groups and met in a closed session to 

deliberate on the panel’s findings and to define the contents of this assessment report. 

 1

 The nine NIST laboratories are the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, the Center for 

Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, the Electronics and 

Electrical Engineering Laboratory, the Information Technology Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering 

Laboratory, the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, the NIST Center for Neutron Research, and 

the Physics Laboratory. 2

 See http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/ for more information on NCNR programs. Accessed May 1, 2010. 
4 

 The approach of the panel to the assessment relied on the experience, technical 

knowledge, and expertise of its members, whose backgrounds were carefully matched to 

the technical areas of NCNR activities. The panel reviewed selected examples of the 

technological research covered by the NCNR; because of time constraints, it was not 

possible to review the NCNR programs and projects exhaustively. The examples 

reviewed by the panel were selected by the NCNR. The panel’s goal was to identify and 

report salient examples of accomplishments and opportunities for further improvement 

with respect to the following: the technical merit of the NCNR work, its perceived 

relevance to NIST’s own definition of its mission in support of national priorities, and 

specific elements of the NCNR’s resource infrastructure that are intended to support the 

technical work. These examples are intended collectively to portray an overall 

impression of the laboratory, while preserving useful suggestions specific to projects and 

programs that the panel examined. The assessment is currently scheduled to be repeated 

annually, which will allow, over time, exposure to the broad spectrum of NCNR activity. 

The panel applied a largely qualitative rather than a quantitative approach to the 

assessment, although it is possible that future assessments will be informed by further 

consideration of various analytical methods that can be applied. 

The comments in this report are not intended to address each program within the 

NCNR exhaustively. Instead, this report identifies key issues. Given the necessarily 

nonexhaustive nature of the review process, the omission of any particular NCNR 

program or project should not be interpreted as a negative reflection on the omitted 

program or project. 
5 

2 

General Assessment of the NIST Center for Neutron Research 

 The execution of the overall NIST mission—to promote U.S. innovation and 

industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology 

in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life—is enabled in 

important ways by the unique capabilities and facilities of the NIST Center for Neutron 

Research. 

 Through its suite of instruments—among the best in the world―for neutron 

scattering and fundamental neutron science, coupled with a strong staff of scientists and 

technicians who lead their own research programs and support those of hundreds of users 

both within and outside of NIST each year, the NCNR has a firm place in advancing the 

NIST mission. The NCNR continues to succeed admirably in this regard. There are, 

however, both unprecedented challenges and opportunities currently facing the center. 

 First, the Expansion Project promises to advance the center’s capabilities 

significantly in both the quantity and the quality of its instrumentation and in the size and 

scope of the user community to be served. The project has been carefully planned, and its 

management appears to be in good hands and on track. However, the timing of its 

implementation was recently delayed by about a year, owing to a procurement failure. 

The potentially serious negative impact that might have ensued can become a positive 

impact: the timely development of a new instrument (the Multi-axis Crystal 

Spectrometer), which advances the state of the art significantly for inelastic scattering, 

will have time to “mine” substantial new science before the new, April 2011 start date for 

the shutdown. There remain challenges associated with the shutdown that would occur 

regardless of its timing, but these will be easier to address given the additional time 

resulting from the delay. These challenges include coordinating with other neutron 

facilities to provide access to current NIST users, thoughtful and careful use of staff 

resources during the outage, and the building of stronger interactions within NIST and 

with the soft-matter and biological communities outside of NIST. The NCNR should use 

the additional time to pursue these opportunities. 

 Second, an opportunity lies in better utilization of existing expertise and 

capabilities at NIST to enhance the research productivity and impact of the NCNR, 

particularly through increased collaborations with NIST’s Center for Nanoscale Science 

and Technology and Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory. As these centers 

focus on the nanoscale and the chemical-biological arenas, respectively, they could and 

should provide additional interfaces for the NCNR to enhance its impact both inside and 

outside NIST. Similar opportunities might materialize for software and theory more 

generally. 

 On the national neutron landscape of today and in the near future, the NCNR is 

the leading U.S. facility. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the High Flux 

Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will begin to 

compete for this leadership role in 2 to 3 years. However, by 2015 (after the new 

instruments in the Guide Hall extension will have been commissioned, the spin echo 

spectrometer will have been upgraded and relocated to the Guide Hall extension, and 
6 

other instruments currently under development will have been installed in the original 

Guide Hall), the NCNR will gain an additional cushion until the SNS Second Target 

Station instruments come online in 2018. The future enhancements of the Lujan Neutron 

Scattering Center at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), adding roughly 

two times the capacity and new capability, should be viewed as complementing NCNR’s 

instrumentation strategy. To take one example, the Chromatic Analysis Neutron 

Diffractometer or Reflectometer (CANDoR) at the NCNR will provide crucial experience 

with multiwavelength reflectometry below reflectivities of 10-8 to complement the 

inherently multiwavelength time-of-flight instruments at the SNS and LANSCE. The 

United States will have then a healthy mix (though too few) of horizontal and vertical 

neutron reflectometers for meeting the needs in biophysics, soft condensed matter, and 

energy research. 

 On the international landscape, the general consensus of the panel is that the 

Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in France is the leading facility. After the NCNR expansion, 

if the ILL were to do nothing further to enhance its position, the NCNR could challenge 

and even overtake the ILL in importance by 2015. The ISIS Spallation Neutron Source 

in England, with its new second target, will similarly raise the bar, and any further delay 

in NCNR expansion could shift leadership. However, on present trajectories, the ILLNCNR-ISIS hierarchy is stable until the SNS and the Japan Proton Accelerator Research 

Complex are mature in 10 years or so. The Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, 

Forschungsreaktor München II research reactor in Germany, the Australian Nuclear 

Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), HFIR, the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin 

(LLB) in France, LANSCE, and others will provide pressure from the next tier, and the 

NCNR must continually work to maintain its position. In particular, the ANSTO aspires 

to be number three among reactor sources, and its aggressive operating schedule of 340 

days per year, if achieved, will be hard to match. The fact that NCNR management 

anticipates that the scientific and technical research services funds for the Expansion 

Project will continue beyond the time line of the project and be used for continual 

instrumentation renewal is welcome in this regard. In addition, the NCNR should target 

areas of strength in which it can have leadership despite the existence of higher-flux 

facilities that exist now or will be coming online in the future. 

 These impressions of NCNR’s position are based on user metrics (numbers of 

users and user hours per year), number and quality of publications, and innovative 

instrumentation science, but the facilities comparison is not precise. In carefully 

considering the first element of its charge, the panel determined that the level of 

comparison that it used (as described) is sufficient for providing a good indication of the 

NCNR’s position in the broader community. The panel did not think that it should 

perform an assessment of the capabilities of other facilities, or that a more detailed and 

exhaustive comparison of additional metrics was necessary. Although a precise 

comparison of U.S. facilities is challenging, the NCNR is currently in a strong position to 

carry the North American flag with respect to numbers of users and publications, whereas 

instrumentation innovation has been pushed mainly by European facilities. This playing 

field will tilt even more as the European Spallation Source project flourishes over the 

next 5 years. The U.S. neutron community including the NCNR must invest increasingly 

more resources in cutting-edge instrumentation to stay even. 

 Operational reliability is outstanding at the NCNR. On a per flux basis, the 

NCNR is competitive with the best neutron facilities in the world, considering 
7 

publications and “high-impact journal” results. Given the wide scientific footprint of the 

NCNR, a broadening of the definition for “high-impact journals” would be appropriate, 

and this could help quantify metrics more precisely. Competitor sources in the 

Department of Energy broadly acknowledge NCNR’s lead in user numbers, and 

European Union sources graciously salute NCNR’s high-impact publications. 

Demographically, the NCNR—like all scattering facilities—exhibits a regional impact 

distribution and, given the intellectual richness of the eastern seaboard, this regionality is 

a considerable strength. 

 The NCNR instrument suite is well matched to future needs in materials and lowenergy nuclear research. In particular, the facility management is anticipating a shift 

toward energy materials research; the NCNR should monitor national directions in this 

area, including materials for nuclear power, to ensure that the suite of instruments 

continues to evolve to meet national needs. 
8 

3 

Science and Technology at the Center 

 Cutting-edge scientific research is conducted at the NCNR in diverse areas of 

condensed-matter science: hard and soft condensed-matter physics, including biological 

physics, chemistry, and biology. The number of participants continues to increase, 

representing 142 universities, 32 government organizations and national laboratories, and 

46 U.S. corporations; national laboratory and university researchers comprise 80 percent 

of the participants. The proposal pressure continues to be high, as does the quality as 

well as the number and impact of the publications. Overall, the metrics of assessment in 

the areas of research conducted during the past year, publication quality, and impact 

continue to be impressive. 

 Continuous improvements in the resolution and sensitivity of measurement 

techniques—combined with increasingly effective integration of theoretical analysis of 

data—and the availability of functional sample environments (rheometry, magnetic 

fields, humidity) are essential for state-of-the-art studies of the structure and properties of 

condensed matter. The problems investigated by NCNR researchers during the past year 

are diverse, covering both fundamental and applied topics. They include the following: 

materials for batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, hydrogen storage, magnetocaloric materials, 

polymer nanocomposites, drug delivery, properties of magnetic nanoparticles, structure 

and dynamics of lipid bilayers, superconductors, metals, and electronic ceramics. 

Publications resulting from research performed at the NCNR appear most frequently in 

four journals, Physical Review B, Physical Review Letters, Macromolecules, and

Langmuir, covering hard and soft condensed matter. It is anticipated that, with the 

increasing emphasis on biology, the publications in more biologically relevant journals 

will reflect this new trend. 

 The research described in the oral and poster presentations for the panel is at the 

forefront, reflecting the output of highly competent researchers. The following sections 

discuss the assessment of the research reviewed in these areas: (1) soft matter—synthetic 

polymer systems and biological systems; (2) hard matter (energy, magnetic properties); 

(3) engineering (structural materials); (4) chemical physics; (5) earth science; and 

(6) fundamental physics. 

SOFT MATTER 

Synthetic Polymers 

 The soft-matter research conducted at the NCNR in the area of polymers is at the 

leading edge, covering diverse areas of structure, dynamics, and functionality, 

particularly in the area of energy, including research on fuel cells and solar cells. NCNR 

researchers effectively exploited the strengths of the facilities by carefully identifying and 

investigating problems for which the use of neutrons was necessary and critical. In some 

cases, neutron scattering provided information that was otherwise difficult, or impossible, 

to ascertain. In other cases, the information gained using neutrons provided 
9 

complementary information, thereby providing important new insight into the properties 

of complex systems. 

 In an example involving a commonly studied organic solar cell, a thin-film blend 

of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), 

neutron reflectometry was used to determine the distribution of PCBM in the film, 

thereby providing insight into the efficiency of these materials. The depth distribution of 

PCBM had not been determined before these studies were conducted. With regard to 

polymer thin films, neutrons are uniquely suited for understanding the interactions 

between chains grafted to a substrate and free chains in a melt, or solution. The role of 

molecular weight and the degree of interpenetration between the brush layer and free 

chains, and the connection to dynamics illustrated by these studies are new and 

previously not predicted or anticipated. An understanding of these so-called brush-brush 

interactions is central to the understanding of interactions in a range of systems, including 

colloidal suspensions and brush coated nanoparticles in polymer nanocomposites. 

Information gained from the neutron measurements of the structure of hydrogels, formed 

using triblock copolymers, combined with information from other structural probes, 

provided important new insight into the structure of these complex nanostructured, 

technologically important materials. Neutron scattering thus far has proven to be one of 

the single most important probes toward understanding the structure and dynamics of 

polymer nanocomposites (PNCs). The uses of PNCs range from structural, to 

biomedical, to sensors and organic electronics. The primary challenges are associated 

with understanding and controlling the structure of these materials. Combinations of 

SANS, ultra-small angle neutron scattering (USANS), and inelastic neutron scattering 

(INS)/quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) are able to discern much of the short-range 

and long-range structure and relaxations of these technologically important materials. 

This was illustrated rather well by the work conducted by the NCNR over the past year 

and by high-quality publications from the facility in this area. 

Biological Systems 

 Previous NRC assessment reports have encouraged the NCNR to place a greater 

emphasis on addressing questions of interest in contemporary biological science. 

Recommendations have included the employment of direct hires to enhance the NCNR 

staff, the development of new partnerships—for example, a joint hire with NIST’s 

Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory (now CSTL’s Biochemical Science 

Division [BSD])—and better utilization of the large research enterprise of the National 

Institutes of Health, located near the NCNR facility. 

 The NCNR has demonstrated a significant increase in efforts over those of 

previous years to address questions of biological significance. For example, the chief of 

the BSD discussed the application of SANS and neutron-reflectivity measurements and 

NCNR expertise in these areas in tackling biological problems of relevance to the BSD 

and its mission of the advancement of measurement science in biomolecular structure. In 

addition, a joint proposal by the NCNR and the BSD to support a deuteration and isotopelabeling facility was submitted. Although the proposal is not yet funded, the impact of 

such a facility for biological studies would greatly benefit not only BSD and NCNR 

scientists but the broad array of potential NCNR researchers who could better utilize 
10 

neutron scattering techniques given this capability—especially to investigate 

biomolecular structure and dynamics. 

 Such collaborative projects between the NCNR and the BSD are expected to be 

facilitated by a joint position focused on membrane protein biophysics (a focus area for 

the advancement of measurement science in biomolecular structure) that is currently 

being advertised. The expectation is that the primary focus of the person hired would be 

neutron scattering. A strong candidate has been identified, but a firm hire has not been 

made. As this joint hire has been “on the books” for more than 2 years, the renewed 

vigor in the pursuit of a mid- to senior-career research leader for the position is 

encouraging. 

 Finally, complementary techniques available at the BSD and the Center for 

Advanced Research in Biotechnology—for example, nuclear magnetic resonance, x-ray 

crystallography, and synthesis capabilities—could also be better leveraged to advance 

biological research at the NCNR by staff and external users. 

 The soft-matter group is to be commended for a number of developments over the 

past year. First, the SASSIE software package has the potential to greatly facilitate the 

analysis of SANS (as well as small-angle x-ray scattering [SAXS], reflectometry, and 

electron microscopy) measurements of protein structure. The arduous tasks of data 

analysis and the determination of a physically realistic structure have stymied such 

measurements previously. A user-friendly and robust analysis package, if fully realized, 

will have a significant, broad impact and likely lead to a much more vigorous utilization 

of SANS by the biological community. 

 Second, NCNR scientists have developed a routine method for fabricating 

cushioned biological membranes. Indeed, the NCNR reported that this new platform can 

be viewed as a readily available sample environment for any user of the facility. Again, 

such enabling capabilities are a necessity for meeting the needs of nontraditional neutron 

scattering users and for demonstrating the greater emphasis that the NCNR is making to 

reach out to the broad biological research community. 

HARD MATTER 

 The hard-matter group has established important leadership in studies of high-Tc

superconductors. Here the close synergy between theory and experiment has led to major 

breakthroughs during the past year, in particular in the advances made in the pnictide 

superconductors. The calculations show that the magnetism of iron is key to 

understanding the superconductivity in these new materials. The work has included 

important high-pressure studies in which transitions were found experimentally (i.e., 

within the range of techniques available at the NCNR) and in excellent agreement with 

theory. These studies show the importance of maintaining a strong program of sample 

environments in hard-matter experiments. Recent papers, with their extraordinary 

number of citations, represent one of the great success stories of the past year. The close 

interactions between theory and experiment demonstrated by this group serve as a model 

for other groups and programs within the NCNR. 

 Hard-matter studies also include high-quality measurements on ferroelectrics. 

Like the oxide superconductor studies, these experiments take advantage of the important 

role of neutrons for diffraction studies of oxides, particularly as a function of 

temperature, in which cases detailed studies of ferroelectric transitions can be carried out. 
11 

Recent measurements on single crystals are providing important new insight into the 

origin of the very high dielectric response of lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The work is 

important for the NIST mission and could lead to the development and application of new 

classes of transducer materials for data memory, medical devices, sonar, and energy 

storage. 

 Another strength of the NCNR has been in neutron scattering investigations of the 

structures and dynamics of hydrogen-rich materials. The hard-matter group has exploited 

this strength over the years to explore the incorporation of hydrogen in various solids, 

most recently in the development of new hydrogen-storage materials, as a function of 

pressure and temperature. This work has also benefited strongly from a close association 

between theory and experiment, most recently for graphene-based materials. 

ENGINEERING (STRUCTURAL MATERIALS) 

 The study of texture development in metals is a good example of the use of 

NCNR capabilities for tackling industrial challenges important for the NIST mission, in 

this case for the automobile industry’s need for light, high-strength vehicles. The work 

involves the development of new approaches for inverting stresses from strains in 

polycrystalline metals. The effort could take advantage of important advances that have 

been made for texture development with submicron and nanoscale diffraction x-ray 

imaging techniques. 

CHEMICAL PHYSICS 

 A number of important problems of technological importance were studied under 

the topic of chemical physics. The research spanned areas of ion transport and mobility 

in materials for energy storage, water dynamics under hydrophobic confinement, and 

hydrogen storage. Achieving an understanding the interaction of hydrogen with different 

chemical entities poses major scientific and technological challenges. The research on 

hydrogen interactions with coordinated metals (specifically, metal-organic frameworks) 

combines first-principles calculations with inelastic scattering to learn about the shortrange structure and dynamics. These studies take advantage of the unique strengths of 

inelastic neutron scattering. The work on ion transport in polyelectrolytes was 

interesting; the information gleaned from neutrons provided information about the shortrange structure and dynamics, which was essential and could not have been otherwise 

obtained. 

EARTH SCIENCE 

 Earth and environmental science applications of NCNR capabilities include a 

study of the interface between bedrock and soils using SANS and USANS. This study 

made good use of NCNR capability for addressing nanoscale heterogeneity in complex 

materials, in this case for understanding the transitional regime between soils and 

bedrock. The use of focusing optics described below (see the section entitled “Other 

Comments and Broader Issues”) would open up capabilities for a broader range of earth 

science problems (such as measurements on earth materials at high pressures and 

temperatures, and examination of polyphase assemblages—that is, rocks and geological 
12 

fluids). Only one earth science article was published in the 2009 NCNR annual report,3

which describes accomplishments for 2009. Applications in earth, environmental, and 

planetary science could be a growth area for the future. 

FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS 

 NCNR’s continuing support of basic physics experiments is laudable. The 

aCORN—“a CORelation in Neutron decay”—experiment to measure the electronantineutrino correlation in neutron beta decay probes the nature of the electroweak force 

at the most elementary level. This is a compelling example of using the unique 

capabilities of the NCNR to make a significant improvement in a fundamental 

measurement. This work also complements experiments done at other facilities to test the 

limits of the Standard Model of fundamental particles and interactions. The NCNR is 

encouraged to support this and other similar experiments. 

OTHER COMMENTS AND BROADER ISSUES 

 The large beam and low flux relative to spallation neutron sources preclude 

certain types of measurements at the NCNR. Fiber focusing methods are being used to 

focus beams to increase flux on samples. This approach is being used, for example, on 

the prompt-gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) experiments. There have also 

been important developments in other neutron focusing methods. For example, 

Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors that can focus beams to below 100 microns have been 

developed at the ORNL. These could be built and used at the NCNR, opening up a broad 

range of new experimental capabilities for measurements on small length scales—for 

example, for heterogeneous materials, and properties of samples that are necessarily 

small, as well as samples in extreme environments of pressure, temperature, and 

magnetic or electric fields. Other important developments in techniques allow larger 

samples to be studied under extreme environments, thereby increasing the range of 

opportunities for scattering studies using the flux available at the NCNR. The NCNR 

should remain aware of these methods and remain positioned to serve a growing user 

community in extreme environments. 

 Neutron and x-ray scattering are complementary techniques. Thus, having an 

x-ray program in-house based on conventional x-ray (for example, rotating anodes) forms 

an essential component of the support laboratory for sample characterization at the 

NCNR. NIST scientists in general and NCNR scientists in particular could benefit from 

greater involvement in advanced synchrotron sources. In fact, competing facilities in 

Europe benefit from having both neutron and synchrotron sources on the same site (the 

ISIS Spallation Neutron Source and Diamond Light Source in England, the ILL and the 

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France), whereas the United States no longer 

has this capability. However, new opportunities are becoming available in the United 

States with the creation of new x-ray sources, most notably the future National 

Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS-II) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. NIST could 

 3

 National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2009 NIST Center for Neutron Research 

Accomplishments and Opportunities, NIST Special Publication 1105, December 2009. Available at 

http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/AnnualReport/. Accessed August 2010. 
13 

take advantage of these developments by being a part of, or in fact by leading, the 

construction of NIST-managed beam lines (e.g., for biology, hard matter, imaging, etc.). 

 The recent report on crystal growth from the National Research Council made 

strong recommendations for investments in single-crystal growth in this country because 

of its importance for technological advances.4 The United States was once a leader in 

this area but now lags behind numerous other countries (notably in Asia). NIST could be 

an ideal place to develop this effort. If the effort were embraced as a part of the NIST 

mission, the NCNR would be very well positioned to take advantage of such renewed 

focus by providing a crucial tool for the characterization of new single-crystal materials, 

as demonstrated by the recent work on PZT. 

 Finally, the plans of the NCNR for the development of new techniques, 

improvements in resolution, and data collection will place the NCNR in a highly 

competitive position worldwide. Future instruments to be added include very small angle 

neutron scattering (vSANS), the new CANDoR, and the Materials Diffractometer. With 

the addition of new instruments and improved capabilities, the number of users will 

undoubtedly increase. Moreover, the scope, diversity, and intellectual depth of problems 

that users can examine within the broad and diverse field of condensed-matter science 

will improve considerably. 

 4

 National Research Council, Frontiers in Crystalline Matter: From Discovery to Technology,

Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2009. 
14 

4 

Facilities and Resources 

 The NIST Center for Neutron Research continues to operate its facilities 

effectively in the service of the research community. The Reactor Operations and 

Engineering Group has achieved an exemplary performance reliability factor of greater 

than 98 percent on days scheduled for operation. The NCNR’s number of instrument 

operating days (3,741) in 2009 led the neutron facilities in the United States by a wide 

margin while supporting the research of more than 2,250 NCNR participants. 

 The NCNR is to be congratulated for receiving a new operating license from the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There were no reportable occurrences in 2009. 

Continued diligence to ensure safe, reliable operations is essential to supporting the 

research community. Updating the NCNR Final Safety Analysis Report annually is a 

commendable best practice. Regular external safety assessments by the NCNR Safety 

Assessment Committee (SAC) are important, and the NCNR should carefully consider 

SAC recommendations. 

 At the NCNR, total staffing is 209 (not including about 50 staff from Physics, 

Chemistry, and Health Physics), broken down among three groups—in Reactor 

Operations and Engineering there are 46 staff members; in Research Facility Operations, 

54; and in Neutron Condensed Matter Science, 85—and the NCNR Center Office, which 

has 24 staff members. Additional postdoctoral appointments were made over the past 

year, allowing the science group staffing to grow from 79 to 85. The reactor now has a 

full complement of 20 operators, whose presence and services will be required even 

during the shutdown. In contrast to earlier years, operations and facilities staffing levels 

are viewed by management as being satisfactory and also well aligned with the needs of 

the Expansion Project. Three new instrument scientists and 6 mechanical engineers have 

been hired in the past year. To oversee the work during the expansion, a project 

management office has been established with 2 new hires who have expertise in civil 

construction and instrument development. The Expansion Project schedule is very intense 

and can be expected to take all the time of the operations and facilities staff during the 

shutdown period. The year’s delay referred to above will provide additional time for a 

well-coordinated effort during the aforementioned shutdown. The management is 

encouraged to maintain scientific productivity during the shutdown by not calling more 

than necessary on the science staff, particularly the postdoctoral members and earliercareer personnel. 

 The total NCNR budget for FY 2009 was $42.7 million, and the budget for FY 

2010 is estimated to be $39.8 million. The NCNR budget appears to be adequate. The 

NCNR is aggressively taking advantage of funding from the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA; Public Law 111-5) and the America COMPETES Act 

of 20075 to upgrade its infrastructure and improve the scientific capabilities of its 

instruments. These changes should resolve two areas of concern for facility maintenance: 

repairing the thermal shield and replacing the safety shim arms. The new instruments 

 5

 The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, 

Education, and Science Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-69). 
15 

should expand the cold neutron measurement capacity of the NCNR by 30 percent while 

significantly advancing the research potential of the facility. 

 The long shutdown for the Expansion Project beginning in April 2011 must be 

planned for very carefully. Several separate installations must be staged during this 

shutdown. The delay caused by the procurement of the Secondary Cooling Pump 

Building is an example of what can go wrong in a complex project. There is a significant 

opportunity cost to having a major research facility suspend operations for an extended 

period. It is important to the user community that something unexpected does not prolong 

the shutdown beyond what is scheduled, and the NCNR staff should make every effort to 

minimize this possibility. The strategy of having all procured equipment in hand prior to 

beginning the shutdown seems prudent. It is important to keep the user community 

informed of the status of the Expansion Project as the plans evolve. Information flow has 

been limited. 

 The future availability of 3He is uncertain. This issue is not unique to the NCNR; 

it is a concern of the whole neutron community. Potentially, it could severely 

compromise important areas of research, especially quantum fluids and cryogenics. In 

neutron detection where there are alternative choices, NCNR’s strategy to partner is 

appropriate. To mitigate risk to future instruments, the NCNR should consider expanding 

its program to develop alternative detector techniques. 

 Planning is ongoing to convert the reactor from highly enriched uranium fuel to 

low enriched uranium fuel when a fuel has been developed and approved by the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission for operation. The Department of Energy projects that fuel will 

be available in time for the conversion of reactors regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission starting in 2015. It appears that this can be accomplished without disrupting 

operations or degrading the performance of the NCNR facility. Users should be informed 

in a timely fashion if there are changes in operation and performance. With the transition 

from HEU to LEU fuel, a new deuterium cold source would be beneficial for maintaining 

the flux at the NCNR to specific instruments. The use of focused beams may also provide 

an opportunity to broaden the range of experimental capabilities at the NCNR. 
16 

5 

The Center as a User Facility 

 The NIST Center for Neutron Research is a national facility whose mission is to 

ensure the availability of neutron-measurement capabilities to meet the needs of U.S. 

researchers from industry, university, and other government agencies. By providing a 

wide array of thermal and cold neutron instruments, as well as a broad range of sample 

environments and complementary analytical instruments, the NCNR enables 

measurements that help advance science and develop new technologies in the United 

States. Thus, the NCNR plays a key role in NIST’s mission to promote science, 

standards, and technology. New instruments and the planned upgrades to instruments that 

are part of the facility expansion will ensure that the NCNR remains competitive on the 

international stage. 

 The NCNR user community continues to flourish. The most recent call for 

proposals resulted in more than 380 proposals, requesting 2,240 instrument days of beam 

time and corresponding to an average instrument oversubscription of 2.3. (The 

comparable numbers in 2008 were 321 proposals requesting 1,820 instruments days 

corresponding to an average oversubscription of 2.0.) In 2009, the number of distinct 

NCNR research participants was approximately 2,200, with about 800 users coming to 

the NCNR (comparable to 2008 levels). With an average of approximately 50 users per 

instrument, productivity at the facility continues to be on par with European sources. 

U.S.-based participants included 67 percent from universities, 13 percent from other 

national laboratories, 9 percent from NIST outside the NCNR—including scientists from 

the Physics Laboratory, the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, and CSTL’s 

Polymers Division—and 5 percent from industry. With two-thirds of the beam time 

available for the user program and one-third reserved for internal use, the NCNR is 

meeting the needs of external users while continuing to attract and retain outstanding 

scientists. The flexibility inherent in unallocated time enhances the ability of NCNR 

scientists to bring in new users, provide rapid access for high-impact science, and work 

more effectively with industry by means of collaborative access. In addition to the peerreview process, industrial access is also fostered through participating research teams 

including, for example, the NCNR’s neutron imaging facility that has led (through an 

ongoing partnership between NIST and General Motors) to a better understanding of 

water management in membrane-based fuel cells. Finally, progress is good on efforts to 

develop an industry-university-government consortium centered on the new 10-meter 

SANS instrument that will be part of the expanded instrument suite in the new Guide 

Hall. For visitors to the NCNR, the addition of the new office building in the summer of 

2010 will significantly improve the availability of user office space as well as laboratory 

space for sample preparation and complementary analytical methods. 

 The NCNR User Group (NUG) acts as a conduit to management regarding user 

concerns, and executive committee members of the NUG hold bimonthly telephone 

meetings with NIST staff. One key function of the committee is to poll users regarding 

their satisfaction with respect to the NCNR. The most recent survey was conducted in 

2007 and included responses from students and postdoctoral researchers, staff members, 
17 

and external principal investigators. In the 2007 survey, users rated the training, facilities, 

and instruments very highly and the performance of NCNR personnel as excellent. Users’ 

concerns included the need for availability of specialized sample environments, easy 

access to data (on the Web, for example) after leaving the facility, the availability of 

software and associated tutorials for data analysis, and the compatibility of data formats 

among different facilities. The NUG is currently working to develop a questionnaire to 

poll users on their perceptions regarding the proposal review process. One concern 

expressed in advance of the new poll is the availability of an adequate number of 

informed reviewers as the number of proposals continues to rise—especially after the 

expansion is complete. 

 Despite the steady increase in proposal numbers, the beam-time allocation process 

at the NCNR is well run. Proposals are submitted on the Web and reviewed by from three 

to five external reviewers as well as by members of the appropriate Beam Time 

Allocation Committee (BTAC). Members of the BTAC, appointed by the NCNR, are all 

external to the NCNR and serve for nominal terms of 3 years. The regular rotation of 

BTAC members is encouraged so as to maintain fresh perspectives and to reduce the 

burden on individual scientists. 

 The National Science Foundation-supported Center for High Resolution Neutron 

Science program, renewed for an additional 5 years in the fall of 2009, continues to play 

a critical role in the success of the NCNR. This program provides direct support for 

instrument scientists associated with a subset of neutron scattering instruments. It also 

supports a wide variety of educational and outreach activities, including the summer 

schools on neutron scattering techniques, the Summer Undergraduate Research 

Fellowships program, and remote learning opportunities for SANS. The program is an 

outstanding example of collaborative activity among government agencies, and it 

contributes significantly to developing the next generation of scientists and engineers 

conversant in neutron scattering. 

 Although security is an ongoing issue, NIST and the NCNR are working hard to 

maintain an appropriate security program that preserves the efficient use of the facility. 

Access to the NCNR is facilitated by the Users’ Office, with a staff of two. Foreign 

visitors must apply for access 35 days before arriving at the NCNR, which is on par with 

or better than the time requirements for visits to other national facilities. The system 

seems to preserve all safety requirements while keeping the spirit needed in a center of 

learning. Safety training at the NCNR remains thorough. The ability to train prior to 

arriving at the facility is helpful to streamlining the process. 
18 

6 

Conclusions 

 The NIST Center for Neutron Research is a national user facility whose mission is 

to ensure the availability of neutron-measurement capabilities to meet the needs of U.S. 

researchers from industry, academia, and government agencies. Developing the next 

generation of neutron scattering scientists and engineers is also a vital part of the 

NCNR’s program. 

 The NCNR continues to provide reliably a high flux of neutrons to an evolving 

suite of high-quality instruments and sample environments. The array of thermal and cold 

neutron instruments available at the NCNR enables measurements over a wide range of 

time, energy, and length scales. 

 These capabilities of the NCNR play a critical role in advancing science and 

developing new technologies in the United States and enable NIST to fulfill its role of 

promoting science, standards, and technology. The new instruments and upgrades 

associated with the planned facility expansion will ensure that the NCNR continues to 

provide users with access to internationally competitive instruments.