Time‐of‐flight small‐angle scattering spectrometers on pulsed neutron sources

Abstract

Abstract The operation principles, constructions, advantages and shortcomings of the known Time‐of‐Flight Small‐Angle Neutron Scattering (TOF SANS) spectrometers built up on pulsed neutron sources are reviewed. The most important characteristics of TOF SANS apparatuses are rather a high luminosity and the possibility of measurement in an extremely wide range of the scattering vector at a single exposure. This is achieved by simultaneous employment of the white beam, TOF technique for Λ‐scan and the commonly known θ‐scan. However, the electronic equipment, data‐matching programs and the measurement procedure, necessary for accurate normalization of experimental data and their transformation into absolute cross‐section scale ‐ they all become more complex as compared with those for SANS apparatuses operating on steady‐state neutron sources, where only θ ‐scan is used.