Recent school: the Berlin Neutron School

The 32nd Berlin School on Neutron Scattering was held this year from 8-16th March at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie. The aim of the school is to provide an introduction to neutron scattering with an emphasis on hands-on, practical experience. It combines a lecture course on specific neutron scattering techniques with a series of hands on experiments on seven different instruments, which the students perform in small groups. The experiments this year involved triple-axis spectroscopy, powder diffraction, small angle scattering, reflectometry, time-of-flight diffraction, tomography and residual stress diffraction. There were also lectures on how neutrons are used to tackle problems in specific subject areas e.g. engineering, chemistry etc.

Furthermore, students were introduced to how a large scale facility run with tours of the beam halls, an introduction to neutron user service and a discussion of future neutron facilities lead by Prof Steiner (European Neutron Scattering Association).

This year, 27 students were selected from a total of 57 applicants. They came from 10 different countries; 11 were from German institutions and 14 from European institutes and 2 from overseas. The vast majority (18 people) were studying for their PhD but we also had 5 diploma/master’s students, 2 postdocs and 2 senior researchers. The students came from a wide range of scientific backgrounds including biology, chemistry, engineering, materials science and physics.

For more information about schools supported by NMI3 please visit our Education pages.