Work Package 2
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
To design a new neutron source, consisting of a moderator and a reflector, it is necessary to understand the behaviour of neutrons as they propagate through or from different moderator and reflector materials. The latest computer simulations have allowed scientists to create “libraries” of neutron behaviour based on their interaction with the microscopic structures of different materials, but these have so far been geared for applications in nuclear-reactor physics, not neutron sources. An alternative, recently developed at the ESS, is the NCrystal software package, which can directly describe neutron behaviour during a computer simulation, without the need for any reference libraries. Led by the ESS, this work package therefore aims to:
Drawing input from eight European research institutions, and with a budget of €3m over three years from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, the project will produce a groundbreaking design for a second source of ESS neutrons. As a result, it will show how the ESS can be not only the most brilliant neutron source in the world, but also the most intense, able to probe everyday materials and tackle fundamental questions in physics with up to 1,000 times the sensitivity found anywhere else.