Dec 4 2017
Beam time at a neutron instrument is considered to be important – generally, users have just a few days for their measurements. For an experiment, scientists frequently travel from other countries or even continents. They naturally want to make the most use of these days for their research.
An HZB team at the triple axis spectrometer FLEXX has thus manufactured a new detector module called MultiFLEXX, which is capable of allowing beam time to be employed 10 times as efficiently as possible.
Lattice vibrations and magnetic excitations are measured at FLEXX. They normally possess a specific relationship of excitations energy and scattering angle. One data point at FLEXX is capable of measuring exactly one energy transfer and one angle, with a measurement time ranging from several seconds to several minutes, based on the sample. Many energies and angles need to be measured in order to infer characteristic relationships. The new detector module MultiFLEXX is capable of doing this with a shorter data collection time: It simultaneously measures 5 energy transfers and 31 angles, being made up of 155 detectors and analyzers. Each MultiFLEXX data point comprises of a count rate that is 5 to 10 times smaller than a single data point at FLEXX, hence there is an overall gain in acquisition efficiency of more than a factor of 10. This is specifically interesting for users who desire to map out an excitation as a function of magnetic field or temperature - common applications at FLEXX.
The FLEXX team developed the detector module MultiFLEXX and assembled it in the HZB workshops. It has already been successfully tested in a number of experiments, both in the HZB-internal research on thermoelectrics and by external users.