Research and infrastructure for neutron scattering

Super ADAM is a neutron reflectometer operated as a national research infrastructure at the ILL. The overall goal of the project is to provide state-of-the-art neutron reflectivity to the Swedish research community. Super ADAM is very well suited for investigations of magnetic thin films and multilayers, and therefore used to investigate among others lateral domain formations, magnetic behaviour of nanoparticles and dynamics in artificially patterned magnetic media.

The high-resolution option of Super ADAM provides a highly polarized (up to 99.8 %) monochromatic (meaning with a fixed wavelength) neutron beam. This mode is complemented with polarization analysis for specular and off-specular scattering. Film thicknesses between below 1 nm and up to hundreds of nanometres are studied. The standard sample environment is a He-flow cryostat combined with an electromagnet providing temperatures down to 2.5 K and magnetic fields of up to 1.1 T. Under these conditions, measurements of two spin states take around 3-4 hours with resulting data covering 5-6 orders of reflectivity. With a higher unpolarized flux, experiments on solid-liquid interfaces can be performed as well. Recently, we have installed a second instrument branch, which allows for parallel measurements with two instruments and doubles the capacity of the beam line. The second branch, shown to the left in the photo, is optimised for surface diffraction and quick measurements with high neutron flux. For experimental conditions (temperatures, magnetic fields etc.) not reachable with our own equipment we have access to full suite of ILL sample environments. More information on the instrument can be found on the webpage of the ILL.

Super ADAM is operated by Uppsala University and financed by the Swedish Research Council. It is run within the framework of Cooperative Research Groups, the group of instruments located at ILL but owned by external institutions. Currently, 30% of beamtime is allocated according to decisions made by the ILL scientific committees (=ILL beamtime), while the remaining 70% is distributed among Swedish researchers in a competitive beamtime application process.

Super ADAM also hosts a number of educational efforts, trainings and outreach activities aimed to promote neutron research within the Swedish research community and to train the next generation of scientists. We support new users through the whole process from discussing initial ideas over writing a beam time proposal, doing the measurement, analysing the data to eventually writing a manuscript.