Instrumentation

The key part of the AUSTRON facility is the neutron instrumentation. After intensive discussion this year a set of 21 instruments has been proposed from which the initial instrument suite will be chosen. For these instruments, four moderators will be needed, one at ambient or intermediate temperature and three cold moderators.

The birth of AUSTRON

As European horizons widened in the late 1980s, new projects and wider collaboration beckoned. At a meeting of the Central European Initiative ("Hexagonale") working group on science and technology at CERN in 1991, a panel of experts representing more than 50 research institutions unanimously supported the construction of a neutron spallation source in the Central European Region.
   Prior to this, a commission under the patronage of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Chairman Peter Skalicky, Technical University of Vienna; Secretary General Meinhard Regler, Institute of High Energy Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) had been studying a project for an accelerator (provisionally called AUSTRON) which could fill this role.
   By the end of December 1992, Dr E Busek, then Minister for Science and Research, had officially declared the support of the Austrian Government for the AUSTRON (for one-third of the estimated cost). The International Scientific Advisory Board was founded in 1993 and is chaired by Albert Furrer, PSI and ETH Zürich. A detailed study of the centre was published in November 1994 with the additional help of CERN, research centre Seibersdorf, the Technical University of Graz and several international experts and industrial firms.
   In the following years the design work continued at a lower level, culminating in the recent proposition by Meinhard Regler, following an instrumentation meeting during May of this year chaired by Helmut Rauch, for a second ring that acts as a bunch accumulator for a 10 Hz target.

The proposed instruments for the ambient/intermediate moderator are a high-resolution powder diffractometer (covering a very large detector solid angle), a diffractometer for liquids and amorphous materials (emphasis on low- and small-angle scattering), a direct chopper time-of-flight spectrometer (magnetic excitations and vibrational spectroscopy), a crystal analyser spectrometer for molecular excitations, a radiography and tomography facility (providing the option of time-gated energy selection), and an engineering research beamline.

The instruments proposed for the high-resolution cold moderator are a general-purpose powder diffractometer (following the recommendations in the Autrans report for new developments in this field), two single-crystal diffractometers (one enabling protein crystallography, the other dedicated to the investigaton of samples with polarized nuclei), a phase reflectometer (allowing a model-independent and unique reconstruction of the investigated surface profiles), a high-resolution crystal analyser spectrometer (with several diffraction options), a neutron resonance spin echo project optimized for a pulsed neutron source, and two development beamlines for general and for neutron optics developments, respectively.

The proposed instruments for coupled cold moderators are: a general-purpose reflectometer, an instrument for combined small- and wide-angle scattering, a high-resolution small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument with neutron spin echo option, a SANS project based on spin echo technique, a multi-chopper time-of-flight spectrometer with variable energy resolution, a TOF spectrometer based on phase space transformation for high-resolution spectroscopy studies, and a neutron optics research station.

This scenario offers a good balance between instrumental and scientific possibilities with an acceptable ratio of established and novel instrument arrangements and techniques. Most instruments are particularly suited to installation at a pulsed neutron source and a majority of them will profit considerably from 10 Hz operation.

Clean room

Detailed consideration was given to an optimized sample environment. The proposed installation of a clean-room area (including temperature stabilization) combined with vibration isolation conditions (important, for example, for ultra-low temperature experiments too) is novel for neutron sources. It will eventually contain about a quarter of the AUSTRON instruments, such as reflectometers and single-crystal diffractometers, which will gain from these possibilities for the investigation and development of advanced materials for high technology. The clean-room area will also offer high stability conditions for sensitive neutron optics experiments.

Another special environment is the proposed engineering research area which allows heavy or large industrial samples to be delivered and investigated under full operating conditions on dedicated instrumentation.

The AUSTRON could be a regional centre of excellence along the lines of a vision of the Central European Initiative (CEI). This is also in line with the spirit of the Fifth Framework Programme which seeks to promote advanced research activities involving potential members of the European Union.

In this context, a transnational facility in Austria would help the anticipated enlargement of the European Community on forefront scientific grounds supporting the envisaged integration of Eastern scientists in research centres of excellence. In addition, the location of the facility in Austria will help offset the traditional export of Austrian human research capital and know-how.

Complementary to the AUSTRON will be a medical facility for research and treatment of cancer using protons and heavy ions simultaneously.

Since the AUSTRON is based on custom-tailored solutions in known technologies, it could be built relatively quickly and would lead the world in peak neutron intensity for a decade or more. After approval and a design period, it could be built for an expenditure (1998 prices) of 4700 million Austrian schillings (337 million euros) with an addition of 1100 million schillings (70 million euros) for the Medical Ring, distributed over seven years. The earliest completion date would be 2006.