Ken Andersen Named ALD for ORNL’s Neutron Sciences
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Ken Andersen has been chosen as the next associate laboratory director for the Neutron Sciences Directorate (NScD), at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), effective March 1.
Andersen brings extensive experience to the neutron scattering research and user programs at ORNL.
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He joined ORNL one year ago from the European Spallation Source in Sweden, where he led the Neutron Instruments Division and oversaw the selection and construction of instruments from conceptual development through design, procurement, installation and commissioning.
He succeeds Paul Langan, who will join the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), in France as director in the coming months.
Andersen previously led the Neutron Optics Laboratory at the ILL and has commissioned and operated neutron scattering instruments at both the ILL and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom (UK). He began his career as a post doc at the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics in Japan after earning his PhD in physics and a bachelor’s in physics and mathematics at Keele University, UK.
The variety of responsibilities and leadership roles entrusted to Andersen throughout his career equip him to increase the impact of NScD research, support contributions of users from around the world, ensure the reliability of the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor, and advance plans for the long-term productivity of these facilities on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the nation, according to an organizational announcement from ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia.
Andersen said he’s delighted and honored to have the opportunity to lead NScD and described his role as an enabler, “allowing us to continue running this unique user facility with the highest possible levels of performance and source availability, and helping to increase the scientific impact even further.“
He added, “The Second Target Station project will provide world-leading performance in cold neutrons and large bandwidth applications. It is timely that we lay the groundwork for HFIR and the SNS First Target Station to also move forward from their current positions of strength. I also see tremendous promise for getting more out of our instruments by improving the data pipeline. I’m very excited about doing my part to help drive the organization forward to deliver in all these areas."
As Andersen takes responsibility for this key leadership area at ORNL, Mark Wendel will assume duties as director of the Neutron Technologies Division, the position that originally brought Andersen to ORNL. Wendel provided strong leadership in an interim role before Andersen’s arrival, and we are fortunate to have a leader of his experience and expertise in this role, effective February 1, Zacharia said in the announcement.
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HFIR Startup is February 23, 2021
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After an extended outage, the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is planning startup for Cycle 490 on Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Pending ongoing review and analysis, additional operating cycles will follow. A tentative schedule for these cycles has been released and can be found here.
If you have a previously approved HFIR proposal, beamline staff will contact you to schedule your experiment. The User Office will send out notifications regarding HFIR 2021-A proposals by February 10, 2021.
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Implementation of Instrument Computer Access for Remote Experiments
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ORNL’s neutron sources are in the process of implementing remote experiment capabilities, which will enable users to conduct experiments and produce data through computer access. This mode is distinct from our current mode of operation in which the instrument team runs the experiment with input and directions from the user. Four pilot instruments will begin running remote experiments in February 2021: BL-5 CNCS, BL-11A POWGEN, BL-18 ARCS, and CG-3 Bio-SANS. Additional instruments will be added to the remote experiment program on a staggered schedule, with the goal of having remote operation capabilities on all HFIR and SNS beamlines by the end of 2021. This remote experiment mechanism is intended to remain in place as an access mode even after the onsite user program is resumed.
Proposals that are accepted to run through remote control of the instrument will require additional pre-experiment steps for users, including filling out sample container and loading information and watching training videos to learn about the instrument workspace and controls. Additionally, we encourage remote users to join our SLACK workspace as a means for experiment communication with ORNL staff.
Users interested in running a remote experiment should express this interest when submitting a proposal to the 2021-B proposal call. A yes/no option has been added to IPTS on the instrument selection page which states, “I am interested in running my experiment through remote control of the instrument.” Final determination of proposals to be awarded remote experiment status will be made by ORNL staff, and users will be notified of this status in their proposal award letter. Additionally, as part of the pilot program, some users with existing approved proposals may be contacted by the beamline staff if their proposal is a good candidate to run in remote computer access mode.
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SLACK Communication Channels for Users
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We are setting up an ORNL Neutron Sciences Slack workspace to help users and instrument staff communicate during experiments. In this workspace, there will be a private channel created per proposal with the proposal team and instrument staff. These channels are now being created for the Remote Experiment pilot beamlines (ARCS, POWGEN, CNCS, BIOSANS).
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Channels will be rolled out to the rest of the beamlines at SNS and HFIR over the spring. This feature will be available for all proposal types. Please reach out to your local contact if you have any questions.
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2021-B Proposal Call Deadline March 24, 2021
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The ORNL Neutron Sciences User Program is accepting proposals for remote access experiments for the 2021-B operational cycle. Proposals awarded beam time will be scheduled to run in July – December 2021.
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Due to the volume of carryover proposals at HFIR, the 2021-B proposal call will include only a subset of HFIR instruments with limited availability (CG-2, CG-3, CG-4D, and HB-2B). The deadline for submissions is noon (EDT), Wednesday, March 24, 2021. More information will be provided on our website soon.
For more information on submitting a proposal, please see How to Submit a Proposal or watch our SNS-HFIR Proposal Writing Tutorial. When you are ready to submit your proposal, log in to the Integrated Proposal Tracking System (IPTS).
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NXS Virtual 23rd National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering Applications Due March 1, 2021
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Graduate students at universities in North America are invited to apply to attend the 23rd National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, which will be held virtually by Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories from July 12-30, 2021. The first week of the program will consist of half-day lecture sessions, while full-day sessions in the second and third weeks will include remote experiments and data analysis tutorials. Applications are due Monday, March 1, 2021. Read more >
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Neutrons Milestone: Diamond Anvil Cells Enable High-Quality Neutron Powder Data at Pressures Close to Earth’s Core
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Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source have developed a diamond anvil pressure cell that will enable high-pressure science currently not possible at any other neutron source in the world.
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Using the new diamond anvil cell, the team recorded neutron powder diffraction measurements above 120 Gigapascals (GPa) while maintaining sufficient data quality for full structural refinement. The achievement shatters the previously held record of 62 GPa for refinable neutron powder data.
“This is an incredible breakthrough that now allows us to use neutrons to study materials in the megabar regime. This unlocks, for the first time, studies on the structure of high-pressure hydrides such as those that exhibit room-temperature superconductivity. It also allows us to understand the structure of super-hard nitrides and even enables us to investigate the materials at earth-core pressure conditions,” said ORNL instrument scientist Bianca Haberl.
The new diamond anvil cell was developed by high-pressure research scientist Reinhard Boehler. Users who are interested in the new diamond cells and are applying for beam time in the upcoming Proposal Call 2021-B, which closes at noon on March 24, should contact ORNL researcher staff prior to submitting a proposal.
Read more on high-pressure science >
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Update on Mantid Upgrades and Phase-Out of Mantidplot
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The next version of Mantid, version 6.0 will no longer contain 'mantidplot,' as it is based on the deprecated qt4 framework that is not supported on newer operating systems. Mantidplot has served us well for 12 years and is being replaced with 'mantidworkbench.'
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'Mantidworkbench' is using newer technologies and more robust development approaches. Both are in current installations of Mantid, but version 5.1 (released September 2020) is the final release to include 'mantidplot.' Click here for a comparison of features between the two interfaces.
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Yingrui Shang joined the SANS and Spin Echo group as the Computational Instrument Scientist for SANS in January. Yingrui received his PhD in Polymer Physics from the University of Massachusetts. Afterward, he joined Columbia University where he worked with Simon Billinge. Most recently, he was a faculty member at Tianjin University in China. In his new role, Yingrui will serve as the interface between the SANS instrument scientists and staff in the Application Engineering and Software Engineering Groups of the Computer Science and Mathematics Division.
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Alan Tennant joined the Triple-Axis Spectroscopy group as a Neutron Scattering Scientist on January 1. Alan received his PhD from the University of Oxford and did his postdoctoral work at ORNL. He held multiple positions at both universities and international neutron facilities and returned to ORNL in 2013, serving as Chief Scientist for Neutron Sciences until 2017 when he took a role leading an ORNL-wide quantum materials initiative.
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At the Triple-Axis Spectroscopy group, Alan will support operations at the cold triple axis spectrometer (CTAX) and will support efforts to develop the science case for instrumentation upgrades and for new instrumentation at HFIR associated with the pressure vessel replacement project.
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In May 2020, Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) launched the “Reimagining ORNL” initiative to expand opportunities for scientific leadership, and to strategically align programs and facilities with ORNL’s research missions and emerging fields. The Neutron Sciences Directorate (NScD) recently appointed the following positions (pictured above, left to right): Jim Browning, Group Leader for Reflectometry; William Heller, Group Leader for SANS and Spin Echo; John Carruth, Group Leader for HFIR Science Support.
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Time-of-Flight Wide-Angle Neutron Spin-Echo at the Second Target Station (STS) Virtual Town Hall Meeting on February 18, 2021
A virtual town hall meeting will be held to discuss the development of a wide-angle spin echo instrument (EXPANSE) at the Second Target Station (STS). This instrument will become the workhorse instrument for scientific problems that involve high-resolution (neV‑μeV) dynamic processes in a wide range of materials. This instrument will offer unique capabilities not available in the currently existing NSE instruments nor in the US, which is to visualize local slow-dynamics in real-space and time, and to enable time-resolved studies with NSE. We anticipate that this town hall meeting discussion will be informative for both defining future capability requirements and developing new science programs best suited for the EXPANSE.
This meeting will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. Read more and register >
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Small and Wide-Angle Neutron Diffractometer/Spectrometer at STS Virtual Town Hall Meeting on February 26, 2021
A virtual town hall meeting will be held to discuss the development of an advanced small- and wide-angle scattering instrument at the STS that provides best-in-class resolution, dynamic range, and unique spectroscopic capabilities. The instrument will maximally leverage the STS source, state-of-the-art neutron optics, and detectors, to deliver an unprecedented capability that enables assessment of a wide range of length scales with excellent resolution, measurements on smaller samples, and time-resolved investigations of evolving structures. We anticipate the town hall meeting discussions will be informative for both defining future capability requirements and developing new science programs best suited for this new instrument at STS.
This meeting will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. Read more and register >
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