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ISIS has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Spallation Source (ESS) concerning an extensive programme of technological collaboration, ranging from accelerator diagnostics to data analysis.

The newly agreed technical collaboration will open the door for the mutual development of components and instrument technologies, as well as the exchange of research and technical staff. Importantly, it is expected to help both facilities better leverage development costs.

Owned and operated by STFC the ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences and today Europe’s only pulsed spallation source.

The ESS is being developed in Lund, Sweden and construction is due to start this year.

“By using common technologies we can reduce costs and risks for both ESS construction and ISIS upgrades, and in future operations,” says Robert McGreevy, Director of ISIS.

The United Kingdom plays an important role within the European neutron science community, as home to ISIS, but also as a founding member of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, a leading reactor based neutron source. ESS is a next generation spallation neutron source, and will build upon the pioneering work done at ISIS.

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Links

http://europeanspallationsource.se/
http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/

Contact details:

Lucy Stone, Deputy Media Manager, STFC.
Tel: 01235 445627
Email: lucy.stone@stfc.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

ISIS is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford in the United Kingdom. Our suite of neutron and muon instruments gives unique insights into the properties of materials on the atomic scale. We support a national and international community of more than 3000 scientists for research into subjects ranging from clean energy and the environment, pharmaceuticals and health care, through to nanotechnology and materials engineering, catalysis and polymers, and on to fundamental studies of materials.

We use the technique of neutron scattering.  Neutrons tell us where atoms are and how they are moving.  By studying how materials work at the atomic level, we can better understand their every-day properties – and so make new materials tailor-made for particular uses. ISIS also produces muons for use in a similar way, providing additional information on how materials work at the atomic scale.