NSF Funds a Low-Energy Neutron Source at Indiana University

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has committed approximately $6.4 million to Indiana University over the next three years to build LENS, the Low Energy Pulsed Neutron Source.

Beams of slow-moving, "cold" neutrons turn out to be a very effective way to probe the structures of molecules and crystals, and have found applications in such fields as drug design and corrosion detection in airplane wings, yet only a handful of neutron scattering research facilities are currently in operation in this country. The new facility helps to fill the research gap and addresses the need for new students to enter the field.

Since LENS's slow-moving neutrons will be produced by low energy protons, there will be minimal contaminant radiation, says principal investigator John Cameron. This factor will make the facility well suited to its on-campus setting, he added.

When completed in 2005, LENS will also be well positioned for use by students and others who want to try new experimental techniques or develop prototype instruments. Indeed, LENS promises to become a significant training ground for the young scientists who will use the Department of Energy's billion-dollar Spallation Neutron Source, a much larger and more energetic neutron scattering facility thats scheduled for completion in 2006 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

In that sense, says NSF's LENS program manager Hugh Van Horn, "LENS represents a good synergy between NSF's traditional support for university scale research and DOE's support for national-scale facilities."

Additional funding for LENS will come from the state of Indiana, and much of the equipment will be surplus provided by the Air Force and Los Alamos National Laboratory.