A Partnership for Soft Condensed Matter (PSCM) is being set up, building upon the success of the PSB. It will allow users to characterise samples before their experiments at both the ILL and ESRF and will facilitate the performance of complementary in situ measurements. The partnership will also develop complex sample environments for advanced surface and solution science experiments. 

At the ILL Soft Matter User Meeting held in November 2006, users had the opportunity to discuss the idea of the Partnership; the outcome was very positive, as summarized in the Neutron News report of the workshop.

On November 27th 2009 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between ILL and ESRF defining the terms of the collaboration between the two institutes, the roadmap, organigram, budget allocation. A new workshop, Workshop on Scattering and Complementary Techniques, was organized jointly with the ESRF in December 2009 to attract collaborative partners.

SOFT MATTER LABORATORIES are being set up both at the ILL and ESRF, while waiting for the construction of a new building that will host the Partnership. Equipment for sample preparation and characterization is already available. Users who wish to use the facility in conjunction with neutrons or synchrotron radiation measurements should indicate this when making their request for beamtime.

The award of the ESFRI grant has tremendously boosted activity around this project. This grant was awarded to support the preparatory planning phase of the ILL's upgrade programme; it has helped fund a Senior Fellow position in Soft Matter to deal specifically with a workpackage devoted to partnerships. The aim of the workpackage is to establish scientific partnerships with research centres that are not specialised in the use of neutrons, focusing on soft matter, extreme sample conditions and materials science. More details can be found here.

In 2008 it was confirmed that part of the Contrat de Projets État-Région grant recently awarded to renew the ILL/ESRF site will be used for a Science Building that will host, among other laboratories, also the PSCM building. Work then continued on the precise requirements for the building. It has been decided to locate it next to the ILL 7 extension with links to the ESRF ring.

A milestone was reached for the project when the ESRF SAC voted its support for the initiative in November. This was a vital step forward, for the ESRF has been seen from the very beginning as the natural partner for the ILL. The ESRF Soft Matter Group has since been restructured under its new group leader Therenchery Narayanan.

The ILL and ESRF have agreed on the programme for pursuing the collaboration. It involves developing together the scope and content of the partnership, demonstrating its feasibility with a well-defined scientific programme, and achieving a Memorandum of Understanding. The partnership demonstrates the long-term commitment of both institutes to establishing and maintaining a SCM laboratory on their site.

SCIENTISTS IN CHARGE:

ILL     Giovanna Fragneto (fragneto(at)ill.eu)

ESRF  Therenchery Narayanan (narayan(at)esrf.fr)

PSCM post-doc Yuri Gerelli (gerelli(at)ill.eu)