Coates L, Cao H B, Chakoumakos B C, Frontzek M D, Hoffmann C, Kovalevsky A Y, Liu Y, Meilleur F, Dos Santos A M, Myles D A A, Wang X P, Ye F
Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2018 Sep;89(9):092802. doi: 10.1063/1.5030896.
The nascent suite of single-crystal neutron diffractometers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has no equal at any other neutron scattering facility worldwide and offers the potential to re-assert single-crystal diffraction using neutrons as a significant tool to study nuclear and magnetic structures of small unit cell crystals, nuclear structures of macromolecules, and diffuse scattering. Signature applications and features of single-crystal neutron diffraction are high resolution nuclear structure analysis, magnetic structure and spin density determinations, contrast variation (particularly DO/HO) for nuclear structural studies, lack of radiation damage when using crystals of biological molecules such as proteins, and the fidelity to measure nuclear and magnetic diffuse scattering with elastic discrimination.
橡树岭国家实验室新建成的单晶中子衍射仪系列在全球其他任何中子散射设施中都无与伦比,它有潜力再次确立使用中子的单晶衍射作为研究小晶胞晶体的核结构和磁结构、大分子的核结构以及漫散射的重要工具。单晶中子衍射的标志性应用和特点包括高分辨率核结构分析、磁结构和自旋密度测定、用于核结构研究的对比变化(特别是D₂O/H₂O)、使用蛋白质等生物分子晶体时不存在辐射损伤,以及通过弹性辨别测量核和磁漫散射的保真度。