Wide-angle neutron polarisation analysis to study energy and quantum materials

Establishing a sustainable society is one the great challenges of our time. One of the main obstacles is how to efficiently harvest, store and use green energy.

To move to this new future whilst maintaining our standards of living, a new generation of advanced functional materials is needed.

The focus of this project is on energy storage and quantum materials, where the new generation of neutron sources will play a crucial role. Neutron scattering is ideal for studying ionic motion in batteries and the magnetic signatures of quantum materials.

Just as the electron spin of the electron is exploited in spintronics, with the neutron spin we can improve measurements via polarization. Polarized sunglasses allow us to see more clearly on the open sea by screening out the light reflected by the water.

Similarly, with polarized neutrons, we can screen out unwanted background, gather more information on magnetic signals, and separate out collective and separate ionic movements in a battery.

In this project, we will develop and deliver the instrumentation needed to use polarized neutrons on five of the instruments at the ESS and ISIS neutron sources.

This will dramatically improve these instruments’ capabilities, allowing them to carry out ground-breaking research that was not previously possible.

These new experiments are not limited to our own research interests, but we will use these new opportunities in a comprehensive research program on quantum and energy materials.