Disordered systems, in particular liquids and glasses,exhibit complexes behaviour. Proper understanding of the properties of these systems require a multidisciplinary approach - combining neutron experiment and computer simulations.

Why does the bottle matter?

Fluids confined in containers of nanometric size exhibit very exceptional properties, which would be different if they were filled in a container of macroscopic size. They show anomalous molecular mobility, peculiar phase transitions and unusual intermolecular ordering. These phenomena depend on the size of the nanocontainer and on the nature and strength of its interaction with the fluid. New surprising effects show up when confining liquid crystals, which are related to the morphology of the nanocapillary-liquid crystal interface.

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The many phases of water

Water is essential! But water exists in an extraordinary number of forms, some of them discovered only recently. The orientation of a water molecule depends greatly on the orientation of its neighbours. This complexity leads to a wealth of ice structures. A new one was only recently discovered at the ILL.

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The solvation of complex species

Water is vital, both as a solvent in which many of the body's solutes dissolve and as part of many metabolic processes within the body. The aqueous solutions are then essential in processes where water is used to break bonds in order to generate smaller molecules (e.g. glucose, fatty acids and amino acids to be used as fuels for energy use or other purposes).

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The selection of highlights hereafter - extracted from the ILL annual reports - give a flavour of what can be achieved with neutrons in the field.

• Salty ice VII under pressure (2009)
  
• Mutual arrangement and interactions in molecular liquids (2007)
• How ice melts under pressure (2007)
• Hydration of divalent mercury in aqueous solutions (2007)
• Ordening in network glasses (2005)
• Fast and slow sound in liquid Li30Bi70 (2005)