New neutron powder diffractometer in NPI Řež.

A. V. Chichev

Nuclear Physics Institute of ASCR, CZ - 250 68 Řež, Czech Republic

chichev@ujf.cas.cz

The new neutron powder diffractometer has been designed as a rather universal experimental tool for investigation of crystal and magnetic structures, phase transitions and textures in wide temperature range and/or upon external mechanical loading.

The Monte Carlo simulation software RESTRAX was used for its construction design and optimization. The diffractometer is supposed to operate at constant take-off angle of 70 deg, medium resolution of about 5*10^-3 (Δd/d ) and several wavelengths: 2.074Å (Cu200), 2.208 Å (Si220), 1.272Å (Si422)

The instrument is being installed at the 6^th neutron horizontal channel of the LVR-15 research reactor in Řež. The diffractometer is equipped with three monochromators easily exchangeable according to the experimental requirements. The He³ multidetector system is supposed to collect neutron powder diffraction spectra with good resolution in a reasonably short time. The facility will be equipped with a variety of sample environments, such as a furnace, close cycle cryostat, texture goniometer, and deformation testing machine.