The Berlin School on Neutron Scattering
Next school: 25th February to 4th March 2016
Berlin, Germany
The Berlin School on Neutron Scattering is one of the oldest established neutron schools. It was founded in 1980 by Prof Hans Dachs and is organised by the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB). The aim of the school is to provide an introduction to neutron scattering with an emphasis on hands-on, practical experience using the instruments at the BERII reactor.
The first three days of the school consist of detailed lectures on the principles and techniques of neutron scattering followed by a tour of the instruments and an introduction to sample environment. As well as the course lectures given by members of HZB, external guest lecturers will be invited to review current issues in the field of neutron research. Previously Prof Michael Steiner (ENSA) has discussed the future of neutron sources in Europe and Dr Dimitri Argyriou (ESS) has discussed the planned European Spallation Neutron Source.
After attending the lectures the students begin the hands-on experiments. They are divided into groups of four to five people from similar subject areas and do triple-axis spectroscopy, powder diffraction, small angle scattering, reflectometry, time-of-flight spectroscopy, tomography and residual stress analysis under the guidance of the instrument scientists. The experiments last three hours each and take place over three and a half days. On the penultimate day we will hold a students’ poster session which will give the students the opportunity to present their work and discuss how neutron scattering could benefit their research with the HZB scientists. The poster session will be followed by the Neutron School dinner. Finally, on the last day of the school the students will attend lectures on how to use neutron scattering as a tool for research in various subject areas e.g. biology, chemistry, engineering and physics.
Website: http://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/events/neutronschool/
Report on the 2014 school
The school’s participants and organisers told us about their experience. You can get to know all about it by watching the video below and reading the article available here.
