Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS)

Simplified Scattering Diagram

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NOTE NEW ACCESS REQUIREMENTS: You must register here at least 35 calendar days before arrival if you are a first time user unless you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (with a green card), in which case a minimum of two business days are required, the same as for returning users. Failure to comply will result in not being granted access to the facility for your experiment

SANS Seminar Series A new, informal seminar series called the SANS Seminar Series is underway to discuss current research and development. These informal talks are given by SANS scientists, typically every two weeks.

New SANS Book now Available. Check out The SANS Toolbox (PDF).

Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) probes structure in materials on the nanometer (10^-9 m) to micrometer (10^-6 m) scale. Structure on this length scale is critical to the performance of advanced engineering materials. For example, the toughness of high impact plastics depends on the admixture of stiff and flexible segments of polymer molecules on the nano-to-micro scale. Nanometer/micrometer structure is also crucial to biological processes in cells, to the storage of information on magnetic disks, to the hardness of steels and superalloys, to the conduction of current in superconductors, and many other materials properties.

In SANS, the neutron wavelength, λ , and scattering angle, θ , determine the length scale probed through the relationship

d goes by wavelength over scattering angle

Through the use of cold (i.e. long wavelength) neutrons and tight beam collimation, the SANS instruments at the NCNR are able to probe structure on a length scale, d, ranging from 1 nm to nearly 10,000 nm.

Last modified 25-July-2008