cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1868032
title: Investigation of lipid head group dependent adhesion of membrane proteins using neutron reflectivity study

description: The lipid membranes and their interactions with the integral or peripheral proteins serve as one of the key mechanism in various cellular functions like communication, cell defences, signal transduction etc. The lipid membranes not only protects the cells but also acts as filter or switchable gate way, controlling the flow of nutrients into and metabolic wastes out of the cells. It is predicted that the relative organization of the constituent bio-molecules and their preferential attachment with the proteins control various physical parameters like surface tension, stretching and bending elasticity, viscosity of the membrane subsequently helping the cell functions. In this proposed experiment we will be investigating the attachment mechanism and the preferential orientation of flexible and non-flexible polymer like proteins with the different lipids headgroups using neutron reflectivity.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1868035
title: Polarized Neutron Reflectivity study of in-plane spin vortices formed in 2D rare-earth magnetic systems

description: Spin vortices are most appealing characteristics of two dimensional 2D easy-plane spin systems which are receiving recent attention for their fundamental properties and possible technological applications involving nanostructured magnetic materials. Spin vortices are in-plane circular spinarrangements which may have core spins directing out-of plane to reduce exchange energy. A spin vortex exists together with its counterpart, known as anti-vortex, as a pair below a characteristic temperature, known as the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. . Neutron scattering can only determine Bohr Magnetron per magnetic ion, this gives an unique measure of the BKT temperature of a 2D magnetic structure. We propose to measure this temperature as a function of orbital moment using Ho, Er and Gd based LB films that form 2D magnetic structures.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1900119
title: ChipIr commercial access: IROC Technologies

description: Integrated Circuits will be tested at ChipIr beam line to reproduce errors induced by terrestrial radiation effects from fast neutrons.Radiation effects tests are part of the overall reliability of electronic components used in several market such as automotive, medical or networking.Objective will also be to continue comparing results with other test facilities such at LANSCE/WNR and TRIUMF/TNF.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1910012
title: SHINING THE BEAM ON BONES: CHARACTERISATION OF BURNED AND FOSSILISED SKELETAL REMAINS in TOSCA

description: Neutron spectroscopy is applied to study bones exposed to anaerobic burning or fossilisation. The results thus obtained will complement previous data gathered by the team on skeletal remains burned in an aerobic setting, through combined INS, FTIR and Raman (already published [1-6]) and neutron diffraction, with a view to provide an improved understanding of the chemical and microcrystallinity variations undergone by bone upon heating or fossilisation events. Particular emphasis is given to the impact of the environmental conditions on these processes, and to the information provided by the hydroxyl vibrational bands. This is an innovative way of tackling transformations in bone, aiming at the development of a quantitative method for profiling skeletal remains subject to extreme diagenetic processes which is expected to have a high impact in forensic and bioanthropological sciences.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1610062
title: Membrane interactions of a viral scission protein

description: Influenza virus is a pathogen of great medical importance that causes seasonal epidemics and sporadic pandemics. Among the least understood events of the influenza virus lifecycle are the processes that mediate the formation of new viruses and their release from the host cell by membrane scission. Recently we have found a novel role for the influenza virus M2 protein in virus budding, the mediation of membrane scission. The aim of this research is to investigate the molecular details of how M2 alters the shape of the membrane. This will be determined by studying the interactions of the M2 protein with a lipid membrane using neutron reflectivity.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1610340
title: Searching for chiral bobbers in B20 FeGe epilayers

description: Chiral magnetism in non-centrosymmetric systems that have a strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is a burgeoning field, with chiral skyrmions attracting enormous interest. These form flux tubes along the direction of an applied field and are 2-dimensional topological defects. The real space Berry phases associated with their topology yield a fascinating emergent electrodynamics. Here we will seek the newly predicted 3-dimensional toplogical structures, called chiral bobbers [PRL 115, 117201], which are the residues at the surfaces of a snapped skyrmion string, and feature chiral Bloch points that must act as monopoles of the emergent Berry phase flux. This will be done by extending our previous work on PolRef on spin helices in B20-ordered FeGe epilayers to thicker films, and using the magnetic depth-profiling capabilities of the PNR technique to seek these surface states.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1610376
title: Search for the spin liquid phase in terbium gallium garnet.

description: Usually, magnetic materials can be understood by imagining them as orderly rows of communicating, atomic-sized bar magnets (or "spins") which organize themselves into a favorable state (e.g. if they choose to be all parallel, the material is magnetized).  In a frustrated material, the geometric arrangement of atoms prevents this, and the atomic magnets remain fluctuating. However, they still self-organize (or correlate) locally, with their close neighbors.  The size and shape of these regions, which can be measured by neutron scattering, provide strong clues about the frustrated state.  Because local correlations are also a property of liquids, these magnets are called spin liquids.  Tb3Ga5O12 may host an interesting type of spin liquid in which both magnetic and vibrational fluctuations play a role. We propose to use WISH to search for signs of the associated magnetic correlations.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1610413
title: The application of INS to characterise iron based Fischer- Tröpsch catalysts active for the production of lower olefins from synthesis gas

description: In conjunction with an industrial partner (Sasol Technology), it is proposed to apply INS to characterize a series of prototype Fischer-Tröpsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts that are active for the production of low molecular weight olefins.  It has recently been reported that particular concentrations of certain modifiers can switch the FTS product slate from high molecular weight alkanes to high value low molecular weight alkenes.  INS will be used to see how these modifiers perturb the hydrocarbonaceous overlayer that is thought to play a role in moderating how reagents are supplied to the catalysts active sites.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1670526
title: mSR studies of the Barium iridate Ba3MIr2O9 (M=Y, Sc, Zn, Yb)
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1670528
title: Spin Dynamics driven by p-orbital in Alkali Metal Superoxide
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1670534
title: Successive magnetic phase transition of the new frustrated compound, KCu3OCl(SO4)2
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1670535
title: Investigation of the magnetic ground state in a new one-dimensional quantum spin system K2Cu3O(SO4)3
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1710258
title: Towards the development of lithium manganese nitride as novel two stage regenerable reagent for ammonia production

description: In the last decades the production and consumption of reactive nitrogen increased exponentially due to the extensive utilisation of nitrogen containing compounds as fertilizers and in numerous commercial products. Considering that molecular nitrogen is relatively inert, the preparation of almost all nitrogen containing products requires the use of combined nitrogen, mainly NH3, as source of reactive nitrogen. In view of the energy intensive nature of industrial ammonia synthesis process, its large utilisation as a direct/indirect reactive nitrogen building block results in considerable economic and environmental costs. In this context, lithium manganese nitride material is studied as a source of reactive nitrogen for more efficient and greener alternative to the actual mode of reactive nitrogen production.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1710345
title: Analysis of residual strains in rotary friction welded Molybdenum-based alloys

description: Molybdenum (Mo) is a key material for several products in medicine and power electronics. Welding is crucial since without it many structures would cease to be in existence and industry requires continuously new joining processes to fulfill requirements of new materials.  Friction welding is a solid-state technique for joining materials by frictional heat and the rotary friction welding (RFW) is the most common variant with no clear understanding of physical processes when applied to Mo-based alloys. Residual strains in these alloys are key outputs to assess the quality of the welding process modelling. This work aims at evaluating their residual strains for the first time for a more reliable modelling and understanding of the RFW process. This knowledge will be transferred to an industrial scale with its subsequent technological impact.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1720019
title: Probing Magnetic Interactions in LnOH(CO3) Paramagnetic Magnetocalorics

description: Local magnetic interactions in lanthanide compounds have recently been shown to tune their entropically driven magnetocaloric effect (MCE), useful for magnetic coolants. In this regard the LnOH(CO3) (Ln = lanthanide) frameworks are particularly interesting as they feature the highest MCE performance and TbOH(CO3) and DyOH(CO3) have recently shown enhanced properties above 4 K for in modest magnetic fields; potentially making them more useful in practical cooling devices. We will probe the magnetic correlations in several members of this series to understand the differences in their MCE through analysing their magnetic diffuse scattering. This will establish the relationship between their magnetic interactions and MCE, enabling rules to be established for optimising performance. This requires high quality neutron diffraction data ideally matched to the unique capabilities of WISH.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1720177
title: An abiotic analogue of methane monooxygenase for the catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons in homogeneous conditions - Continuation

description: We request 3 days Direct Access on TOSCA to complete the INS measurements of our previous experiment 1610254. We want to characterise the vibrational signatures of a new Fe(IV)oxo species generated by direct reduction of atmospheric di-oxygen in Fe(II)/EDTA/D2O solutions. In the preliminary experiment 1610254 (3 days, see experimental report), we have addressed various technical issues concerning the optimal conditions for Fe(IV)oxo generation in deuterated water solutions and we have shown that INS spectra exhibit a characteristic Fe=O stretching signal at ca. 800-850 cm-1. The objective of this experiment is to confirm the formation of the Fe(IV)oxo species predicted on the basis of DFT/AIMD simulations and to remove ambiguities in the interpretation of the vibrational profile of the solution deriving from water impurities.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1720318
title: Local structure studies by PDF analysis of novel Li-rich double perovskites as new materials for Li-ion batteries

description: Recently, our group has prepared a series of new double perovskite materials (Li1.5La1.5MO6, M=W6+, Te6+) which display interesting electrochemical behaviour for use in Li-ion batteries. The unconventional location of Li ions in the W compound have recently been found to be distributed between the octahedral BB' sites and in La-vacant A-sites. We have shown that this compound shows great promise as an anode material, while the Te analogue displays excellent solid state electrolyte properties. To develop a more complete understanding of why these materials display such attractive properties, we propose the use of total scattering experiments to elucidate the local atomic arrangements across a family of these structural analogues. Such studies will be highly complementary to our existing Li-diffusion work and complete a vital structural study of the Li ion location in these materials.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1720471
title: Investigation of the Li-H bond nature and stages of chemisorption in Li6C60

description: Alkali intercalated fullerides represent a competitive alternative to complex metal hydrides for static and on-board hydrogen storage applications, thanks to their good gravimetric absorption and their complete reversibility. Due to the many processes involved in the hydrogen chemisorption, a comprensive understanding of the hydrogen sorption mechanism remains an open challenge. Recent experiments and DFT studies suggested the important role of Li in the sorption process, involving the direct interaction with hydrogen, possibly forming covalent Li-H species. With this experiment we will study the temperature evolution of the different species formed by hydrogen with Li and C during the hydrogenation process, for different levels of hydrogenation.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1820042
title: High-Pressure Structural Behaviour of 2,2,2-trifluoro-ethanol

description: In the mono-alcohols (ROH) there is a competition between the packing requirements of the  R-group and the demand for the hydroxyl groups to be sufficiently close for hydrogen bonding to occur. The adopted packing motifs can be chains, or catemers, if the R-group is sufficiently small. For bulkier R-groups the molecules may no longer form hydrogen bonded catemers but cyclic dimer, trimer, tetramer or hexamer rings can be created. We have been studying a series of ROH systems at pressure and we have recently found a previously unobserved structure of 2,2,2-trifluoro-ethanol where the R-groups are small enough to allow catemer formation. The neighbouring catemers have a bridging OO contact of 2.899 Å which is comparable to the 2.760 Å distance between the oxygen atoms involved in the hydrogen bonds. It can be envisaged that a cross-linking hydrogen bond could be formed at higher pressure.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1820250
title: Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation of Benzyl Phenyl Ether as a Lignin Model Compound

description: Bio-oil is a renewable energy from biomass, however, its high content of oxygenates result in low heating values and chemical/thermal instability. One effective upgrading process is hydrotreatment using hydrodeoxygenation catalysts. We have synthesised a novel pillared clay catalyst, i.e. NiMoS/PILC and results showed that our catalysts were superior to commercial NiMoS/Al2O3. Here, we would like to understand the details of the interaction between the catalyst and the adsorbate using benzyl pheny ether as a lignin model compound. The use of a model compound of increasing complexity such as benzyl phenyl ether, compared to the previously investigated guaiacol, will reveal the factors that are crucial for binding lignin to the catalyst. INS is ideally suited for investigation of these black, highly absorbing materials, as shown by previous work on the closely related CoMo/Al2O3 catalyst.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1820254
title: Structural changes in pressure-amorphized THF-clathrates

description: Clathrate hydrates are crystalline compounds in which water forms a host with cages that enclose guest molecules. Clathrate hydrates occur widely in nature with guest such as carbon dioxide and methane.  At the same time, clathrate hydrates show interesting low-temperature behavior, which is similar to that of ice. Ice forms two different amorphous, or disordered, solid states when it is pressurized at low temperatures, below ca. -140 C. Since amorphous solid states may transform into liquids on heating, these two states provide evidence of the controversial suggestion that water can exist in two distinct liquid forms. Like ice, clathrate hydrates form an amorphous state when pressurized at low temperatures. Here we explore if pressure amorphized clathrate hydrates also exist in the form of a second amorphous state.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1820284
title: Phonon Anomalies in Charge-Density-Wave Ordered La2-xSrxCuO4

description: It has been known for some time that the CuO bond-stretching phonon  in the high-temperature superconductor La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) exhibits anomalies is its dispersion and damping. A recent resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) experiment on charge density wave (CDW) ordered LSCO (x=1/8) has shown that the same phonon exhibits a strong RIXS signal for a range of wavevectors greater than the CDW ordering wavevector qCDW. This result indicates anomalously strong electron-phonon coupling and the presence strong charge density wave excitations.  Here we propose to measure dispersion and damping of the phonon for the LSCO composition studied by RIXS.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1820365
title: Crystalline electric field levels in a rare-earth triangular-lattice antiferromagnet

description: Rare-earth frustrated systems can present exotic physical properties. The newly discovered TmMgGaO4 shares the same structure as the quantum spin liquid candidate YbMgGaO4 with layered triangular lattice. Due to strong spin orbital coupling and crystalline electric field, its ground state is a singlet, a non-Kramers doublet or a quasi-doublet composed of two singlets. Different ground states will have different spin Hamiltonians. For example, Ising spin state has been proposed for the quasi-doublet scenario which, however, is inconsistent with the susceptibility measurement. Here we propose to use inelastic neutron scattering to study the crystalline field of TmMgGaO4 so that the ground state can be determined which can help us decide the spin Hamiltonian.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1820634
title: Molecular diffusion in supercooled liquid water

description: Following our μSR experiment on liquid water (RB1720491) we propose to measure molecular diffusion coefficient (the sum of the diffusion coefficients of muonium and oxygen molecule) in supercooled liquid water. The supercooled state exhibits highly viscous and glassy behaviour and can no longer be explained by the simple Stokes-Einstein equation. The ability of measuring diffusion coefficients in the meta-stable state can make an important contribution to understanding the mysterious properties.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1339000
title: Residual stress analysis on ISIS target
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1410078
title: Shape- and depletant- induced assembly of nanocolloids in submicron channels

description: Understanding the behavior of colloidal nanoparticles in submicron channels is essential for a number of technological challenges including fracture healing, channel-transport in lab-on-chip devices, lubrication in nanomachinery, etc. This necessitates the structural characterization of confined colloidal suspensions which is challenging for most conventional probing techniques. SESANS, however, probes the appropriate length scales and has the required resolution needed in such systems. It has proved to be effective in resolving the structure of spherical colloids in the channels of a diffraction grating which we studied earlier. We observed colloidal densification in the channels with the likelihood of close-packing in sheets parallel to the channel walls. In this proposal, we plan to study the effect of colloidal shape and size mismatch on the colloidal assembly in similar confinements
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1410125
title: Structural characterisation of a transmembrane biological electron conduit using SANS

description: Many bacteria are able to respire using solid minerals and metals as electron acceptors in the absence of oxygen or other diffusible substrates.  In Shewanella oneidensis this respiration requires a porin-cytochrome complex that assembles in the outer membrane.  This complex is composed of a trans-membrane porin MtrB, a periplasmic deca-haem cytochrome MtrA and a surface exposed outer membrane cytochrome MtrC.  We intend to obtain information on the shape and size of the MtrCAB complex, which will inform on the orientation of exposed MtrC as well as whether MtrA either fully or partially enters MtrB, thus providing evidence for MtrB functioning as a sheath for MtrA. We intend to perform small angle neutron scattering experiments using the SANS2D instrument to generate scattering profiles and ultimately a molecular surface model for this membrane protein complex.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1500018
title: Magnetic excitations at the hidden order transition in URu2Si2
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1510106
title: Temperature dependence of magnetic dead-layers: a possible route to novel 2D magnetism

description: We propose to investigate the temperature dependence of magnetic dead-layer thickness in amorphous ferromagnetic CoFeTaB films on Si and GaAs semiconductor substrates. Magnetic dead-layers, particularly in ferromagnetic films on GaAs, are important for hybrid spintronics applications. However, no previous investigations have studied the temperature dependence of the dead-layer thickness. In our low-Curie-temperature films, the magnetic dead-layer may also be important in understanding more exotic magnetic behaviour. Thin films exhibit behaviour characteristic of 2D magnetism, and the magnetic anisotropy induced by the interface with GaAs potentially produces novel anisotropic 2D behaviour. Following our preliminary measurements on thicker CoFeTaB films, we plan to study thinner, quasi-2D, films in order to understand the unconventional and exotic magnetic behaviour in these materials.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1510202
title: The coupling of spin and charge correlations in La2-xSrxCuO4

description: Charge density wave (CDW) order has recently been established as a generic feature of  high-temperature cuprate superconductors. It occurs near 1/8 doping and has been observed by x-rays which see it appearing below the pseudogap temperature. CDW order competes with the superconductivity. Some cuprates also show incommensurate spin density order (SDW).  In La2-xSrxCuO4, this occurs for similar dopings as the CDW order. The co-existence of the two types of order suggests that they are microscopically intertwinned and are due to static stripes involving spin and charge modulations. Here will will search to see whether the spin and charge orders are also connected in the dynamics of 1/8 La2-xSrxCuO4. In particular, we will see whether the magnetic excitations are modified as charge correlations develop. The experiment will shed light on the origin of superconductivity in the cuprates.
DOI: 10.5286/isis.e.rb1510356
title: On the peculiarities of the structure of particle stabilised foam

description: Many formulated products pass through or end up as foams, comprising immiscible millimeter sized bubbles dispersed into an aqueous continuous phase. Frequently, surfactants or polymers are employed to stabilize the foam structures. Recently, similarities between the role of small solid particles in stabilizing aqueous foams and conventional surfactants in air/water systems have been observed. Here, we wish to explore these facets, focusing on aqueous foams stabilized by silica particles of differing hydrophobicity. These silica foams can be remarkably stable (months), but with seemingly small changes in hydrophobicity, they can also show little or no foaming ability at all. Further, the non-foaming systems may be rendered substantially more foaming by the addition of simple salt. These observations suggest a complex and fascinating adsorption behaviour at the air-water interface.