The neutron silicon lens: a new lens design for thermal neutrons

The development of thermal neutron lenses would enable more efficient and e ffective neutron scattering instruments to be built. Such lenses would have many applications in both the primary and scattered beams on neutron instr uments, and would lead to immediate improvements where the sample to be ill uminated is small, as in high. pressure or engineering strain scanning inst ruments. In this paper we describe a proposal for new design of a cylindric al neutron lens based on the use of multiple neutron mirrors supported and separated by silicon wafers. Details of the new design may also be found in patent application no. 9909052.4 at the UK patent office. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.