The CLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is opening its doors to all in a series of Open Days from 26 June to 1 July 1998. RAL Departments in Particle Physics, Space Science, Technology, Applied Science, Computation, Lasers and the ISIS Spallation Neutron Source will be displaying their wares and illustrating their role within the theme of:
"CCRLC - Partnership at the Leading Edge".
Each day is assigned for access for different groups as follows:
Friday 26 June : Press & Media, Invited Visitors, School groups
Saturday 27 June : Public day - just turn up!
Sunday 28 June : Staff, friends and families
Monday 29 June : Solutions for Industry
Tuesday 30 June : Invited Visitors and School groups
Wednesday 1 July : Invited Visitors and School groups
More details are available on the Open Days Web site
http://130.246.74.186/Opendays98.asp
and on the ISIS specific WWW site
http://belle.nd.rl.ac.uk
All are welcome to attend the Public Day on 27 June. Contact the Press
& PR Section at RAL ([email protected]; 01235 445789) for more information.
For details on the Crystallography and Neutron Diffraction side of things,
contact:
Chick Wilson ([email protected]),
Kevin Knight ([email protected]) or
Kenneth Shankland ([email protected])
at ISIS, or visit the above Web site.
Chick Wilson
ISIS Facility email: [email protected]
A short report on page 8 of 'The Times' for 7 May 1998, 'Best
chocolate bar none', describes the use of the SRS to determine the
differing phases of crystallisation of cocoa butter. This project is funded
by Cadburys and is a collaboration between DL and Heriot Watt University.
It seems that phase V crystals give the smoothest chocolate, so the team are
now trying to create factory conditions that allow this phase to predominate
over the less tasty forms. There is a longer report on page 8 of the
'New Scientist' of 9 May 1998. Further details are in the Daresbury
SRS Annual Report Science Highlights
New insights into chololate"
This one day workshop was held on 2 December 1997 at the Cosener's House, Abingdon. It was organised by Winnie Kagunya and Chick Wilson (ISIS Facility); supported by the Neutron Scattering Group of the Institute of Physics and the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry it attracted participants from all over Europe and further afield.
Delegates were welcomed by Andrew Taylor (ISIS Facility) who said how pleased he was to see the varied applications of neutrons in scientific research as demonstrated by the range of papers submitted for the meeting on topics which only 20 years ago would have been unthinkable. He stressed in his welcome current plans for a European Spallation Source, details of which can be found on the Internet at http://www.isis.rl.ac.uk/ess or obtained by mailing [email protected].
John White (Australian National University) gave the plenary lecture introducing the subject and summarising recent research on graphite, silicates and molecular sieve compounds. He discussed recent experiments on the materials and the application of neutron scattering and other techniques in the elucidation of the physicochemical properties. In his talk, the complementarity between neutrons and X-rays and how molecular dynamics simulations have been used to explain the experimental results, were discussed.
Deborah Jones (University of Montpellier) described recent work of her research group on synthesis approaches aimed at generating 2-D organic-inorganic hybrids with electrochemical and dye properties. She described suitable hosts for the new synthesis procedures and the role of a range of post-intercalation treatments on defining a host-guest hybrid's architecture. Examples were drawn from layered inorganic solids including metal (IV) hydrogen phosphates.
Neal Skipper (University College London) discussed how neutron diffraction (complemented by computer modelling) has been used to establish the structure and swelling properties of clay layers in an aqueous media. In his talk he showed images derived from work that has been conducted using the LAD diffractometer at ISIS Facility depicting clay-water interfaces with orders of molecular layers of solvents.
The application of both X-ray and neutron diffraction in studies of layered magnetic ordering of metal sulfide host lattices differently.
Jose Dianoux (ILL) spoke on dynamics of water in charged hosts (Nafion membrane and clays) using quasielastic neutron scattering. He introduced the talk by reviewing the concept of neutron scattering and the procedures for the analysis of quasielastic neutron scattering data. Results showing evidence of short-range and long-range motions of the water contained in clays and proposals of suitable geometrical models for the dynamics were discussed.
The application of neutron scattering methods in studies of dynamics of molecules in zeolites was further reviewed by Keith Ross (University of Salford). Inferences from measurements of the long-range diffusion of molecules in zeolite P and zeolite Y were discussed in the context of microbalance measurements.
Mike Henderson (University of Manchester) presented a talk on in situ synchrotron studies of hydrated calcium silicates. His research group has been involved in studies of isothermal synthesis using amorphous starting materials and the thermal decomposition of precursor materials. He underscored the relevance of the work in cement-rock reactions occurring in concrete-encapsulated toxic and nuclear waste sites.
Studies of complex molecules encapsulated in zeolite Y and their significance as catalyst centres and enzyme mimics was the subject of the talk presented by Phillip Mitchell (Reading University). He described the structural attributes of the encapsulated molecules from vibrational measurements using inelastic neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy. These are in agreement with molecular mechanical calculations.
The talk by Colin Carlile (ISIS Facility) discussed the opportunities available for research in intercalation science on the Osiris spectrometer at ISIS Facility. The first commissioning results confirm that the intensity on this spectrometer is significantly higher because of it's supermirror guide. Along with the availability of long wavelength neutrons, the instrument offers unparalleled opportunities for studies of guest-host structures.
The closing talk was given by John Dore (University of Kent at Canterbury) on the phase behaviour of water in MCM-mesoscopic materials. Studies on sol-gel silicas using neutron diffraction have provided new insights on the phase transition of water in confined pores. The findings corroborate the theory on nucleation behaviour of water and opens up a large array of ideas on studies of liquid water in an extreme state of super-cooling.
The meeting was enjoyed by all. The participation of chemists, physicists and even earth scientists emphasised the amount of interest that research on guest-host systems enjoys.
Winnie Kagunya
ISIS Facility
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