Neutrons Sciences Directorate at ORNL

Key Points for Beam Time Proposals

The key points below are essential elements the Scientific Review Committee (SRC) considers when assigning a rating to your proposal for beam time on the VULCAN engineering instrument at SNS; see http://neutrons.ornl.gov/vulcan/. They apply to the Statement of Research, i.e., after the specified sections: Title, PI, abstract, facility requested, days requested, student involvement, experiment team, samples, and sample environment.

Consideration of the key points will 1) encourage you to think through the feasibility and reasonableness of your proposed measurement and 2) provide relevant information to the SRC so they can make a sound judgment.

Key points to include in your Statement of Research

  • What scientific question are you trying to answer?
  • Have you interacted with the VULCAN instrument team?
  • Why neutrons versus other techniques?
  • What aspect(s) of VULCAN is/are being exploited: intensity, mapping, multi-axial loading, event-based data acquisition, open environment, temperature, time?
  • Details of proposed experiment, including:
    • Sketch of sample and measurement geometry.
    • Sample characterization, e.g., grain size, composition, shape, size.
    • Size of beam.
    • Method of obtaining stress-free d-spacings.
    • Applied uniaxial or multiaxial load, temperature, environment.
    • Data to be collected and how it will be analyzed, e.g., single peak vs. Rietveld, multiple orientations for tensor determination, load only or load-unload, peak breadths, step-measurements or event-based data acquisition.
  • Preliminary work using neutron scattering or other techniques that support feasibility.