Science

A 3D model of SALSA including instrumentation /set up and scanning of samples will be implemented in McStass. The tool is open source and will enhance virtual experiments both for teaching and experiment preparation scopes. McStas is a general tool for simulating neutron scattering instruments and experiments. It is actively supported by DTU Physics, NBI KU, ESS, PSI and ILL. McStas is based on a compiler that reads a high-level specification language defining the instrument to be simulated and produces C code that performs the Monte Carlo Simulation. The system is very fast in use, both when setting up the instrument definition and when doing calculations. Typical figures are 500000 neutron histories per second on a fast PC. McStas supports for now triple-axis,  time-of-flight instruments, and polarised neutrons. It comes with a comprehensive manual and a library of well-tested components that include most standard elements of neutron scattering instruments, including steady-state and pulsed sources, monochromators/analysers, guides, collimators, vanadium and powder samples, velocity selectors and choppers, and a variety of detectors.In particular we want to include neutron strain scanning model of SALSA and this action will be collaborated by Prof. Kim Lefmann (lefmann@nbi.ku.dk) at the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark..

Activities of the trainee:

learn SALSA instrument set up; basics of strain scanning method to understand the experiments portofolio; program the set up in McStass

Level required:

 5 year university studies in physics, engineering, informatics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Sandra CABEZA mail: cabeza@ill.fr

SALSA is a neutron diffraction instrument to map stress fields within engineering components of any kind, between cm and metre size. Sample alignment requires very high precision and is crucial for the performance of all types of experiments.

The challenge is to align these components with a precision of 20 microns reproducibly on the sample stage. For this purpose SALSA is equipped with a camera assited metrology system. Basic functions, such as image recognition, have already been programmed in-house. During this internship, routines for (semi-) automatic alignment shall be programmed. For this purpose, camera coordinates shall be transferred into instrument coordinates, and, taking into account the actual position of the instrument, commands for sample positioning shall be generated. Programming experience in C++ is required.

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Activities of the trainee:

programming in C++, image treatment

Level required:

 5 year university studies in informatics, engineering

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Thilo PIRLING  mail: pirling@ill.eu

Recently developed Polyion complex (PIC) micelles have unparalleled significance in the construction of functionalised and ordered mesoporous materials. They are fabricated through the electrostatic complexation of a charged double hydrophilic block copolymer (DHBC) with an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte. The micelle formed through the above methodology act as a templating agent, and condensation of the silica precursor over the micelles yield a hybrid material. Once the hybrid material is fabricated, the PIC disassembly and revelation of porosity follow.                                                  

During the internship, DHBCs prepared by RAFT polymerisation, labelled PAPEO-b-PAA and PAPEO-b-PAEMA (molecular weight: 10k-b-3k g/mol) along with Polyoxometalates (POMs such as [PW(12)0(40)]3- and [SiW(12)0(40)]4-) will be employed for the preparation of micelles, after modification of co-polymer when required (amidation in case of PAPEO-b-PAA to obtain PAPEO-b-PAA/NH2). The study of the phase diagram of DHBC-POM micelle will help us to optimise the ratio between the POMs and the copolymer. Knowledge of the structure and shape of the micelles would be key for their effective use in the formation of porous materials, with applications in catalysis and drug delivery. Dynamic and Static light scattering (DLS/SLS), as well as Small Angle Scattering (SAS), will be used to characterise the developed structures.

Abbreviations:

PAPEO- Poly(ethylene oxide)poly acrylate

PAA- Poly(acrylic acid)

PAEMA- Poly(aminoethyl methacrylate)

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Activities of the trainee:

Experimental:

Preparation of Complex PIC micelles: The complex PIC micelles are prepared by varying the concentration of the POMs and co-polymer to optimise the ratio between the former and the latter.

Characterisation:

Dynamic/Static Light Scattering (DLS/SLS) along with Small Angle Scattering (SAS) is used to study the micelles prepared.

Data Analysis:

The results obtained through the Dynamic/Static Light Scattering (DLS/SLS) and Small Angle Scattering (SAS) are elucidated to understand the structures obtained.

Level required:

 4 year university studies in Chemistry, Materials Science

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Ananthapadmanabhan UNNIKRISHNAN mail: Unnikrishnan@ill.fr

Lithium Ion Batteries have become a big part of day to day life and one of the big topics in scientific research. To meet the growing demand of increased capacity for energy storage, new battery materials must be developed. One of the most promising candidates to achieve this in the short term are silicon based anode materials. Unfortunately however, current materials of this type degrade rapidly, resulting in capacity fade and cell failure. To prevent these effects, it is imperative to understand the processes damaging the material by localising the lithium inside working cells. This can be acieved with high-resolution neutron tomography at the NeXT instrument, which reveals the 3D distribution of highly attenuating elements such as lithium. To analyse this distribution effectively, sophisticated data processing tools are required. By applying modern techniques like machine learning, as well as traditional data processing approaches, the terabytes of data collected can be fully processed. This allows the already qualitatively identified degradation effects to be quantified and correlated with the material properties..

Activities of the trainee:

The trainee will analyse already existing neutron- and X-ray tomography data by developing and testing different numerical models to quantify the data. Furthermore they will get an introduction to advanced image analysis software to display 3D-Volumes and prepare them for machine learning algorithms. Finally, they will aid in the preparation of the full data processing pipeline in preparation for the restart of the reactor, which will generate even more data. These tasks will provide an opportunity to apply and refine computational skills using python and gain experience in data science, digital image processing, numerical modeling and machine learning while also gaining insights into cutting-edge battery research and material science.

Level required:

 4 year university studies in Chemistry, Data Science

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 4 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Erik  LÜBKE mail: lubke@ill.fr

The panEDM experiment has the goal to improve the sensitivity for the measurement of a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron (EDM), by two orders of magnitude. A non-zero EDM would be an additional contribution to the CP-violation, that leads to the observed matter/antimatter asymmetry from the beginning of the Universe.

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Activities of the trainee:

The student will take care of the calibration of the Three-Way Switch alignment system, which allows for a good transmission of the neutrons to the chamber and back to the detectors. They will optimize the parameters of the stepper motor in order to achieve the best possible alignment in the lowest time possible, thus providing the best possible transmission of neutrons through the Three-Way Switch. During the cycle, they will also participate in the data taking with UCN at SuperSUN/SUN2 and the analysis of the measured data, thus validating their work on the TW Switch, including a study of the dependence of the TW Switch transmission on UCN velocity. For data analysis, they will use and write analysis scripts in languages such as ROOT, Mathematica and Python. They will then compare the results with a simple simulation of the Three-Way Switch.

This internship gives an opportunity to take part in this ongoing development of a high precision experiment, to prepare, perform and analyses experimental data with large potential benefit for the panEDM collaboration and nEDM physics in general. During this internship, the student will develop their competences in experimentation, data analysis, and simulation. The student will use this internship is for the master thesis of the student at his/her home university.

Level required:

 5 year university studies in Physics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Estelle CHANEL mail: Chanele@ill.fr

SuperSUN is a source of ultra-cold neutrons, i.e. neutrons with such low energy that they can be stored in material trap. This source uses the properties of superfluid helium to convert a beam of cold neutrons into a high density gas of ultra-cold neutrons, stored in the core of the source by a material reflector. When the density of ultra-cold neutrons is sufficiently high, a valve opens to let these neutrons out which are then guided by the extraction system to the experiment that will use them. In a second phase, a magnetic reflector will be added to select only one spin state during conversion and storage. This spin state will have to be maintained throughout the extraction and transport, so that the experiment can benefit from polarised neutrons..

Activities of the trainee:

The student will simulate the current extraction and guidance system with the magnetic reflector. The student will have the opportunity to propose solutions to conserve the spin state of the neutrons: change of materials, addition of coatings and/or magnetic fields.... and to improve the overall design of the extraction system, be it mechanical, thermal or optical. He/she will perform simulations of the new proposal(s). This includes FEM and Monte Carlo simulations. He/she will participate in the preparation and construction of a prototype. Finally, he/she will write the documentation related to the project so that the ideas of the prototype, its construction and possible maintenance are available to everyone.

Level required:

 5 year university studies in Physics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Estelle CHANEL mail: Chanele@ill.fr

Climate change is one of the most important societal challenges and it is crucial to achieve decarbonisation of energy production as soon as possible. Hydrogen is an important green energy carrier: hydrogen is produced from water when energy is available and converted back when energy is required. However, the production of hydrogen from water requires a catalyst, in most cases platinum, which is expensive and scarce. A possible replacement for platinum could be molybdenum disulphide, MoS2, which is cheap and abundant. MoS2 has been studied intensively in recent years, but apart from a remarkable progress in research, the reasons for the activity of this catalyst remain elusive. We have carried out detailed neutron scattering and X-ray spectroscopy studies which are currently being analysed and we are looking for a motivated physics or chemistry student who is interested in performing molecular dynamics and DFT calculations of this system. The student will also be able to participate in neutron scattering experiments if the timing of the internship coincides with ILL beam time..

Activities of the trainee:

Molecular dynamics and DFT calculations using the ILL computing cluster. Optimisation and benchmarking of simulations. Evaluation of the computational results and comparison with existing neutron spectroscopy data. Participation in neutron scattering experiments if possible, taking into account the availability of neutrons during the internship. Writing of a scientific report on the project.

Level required:

 4 year university studies in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 4 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Peter FOUQUET mail: fouquet@ill.fr

The panEDM experiment has the goal to improve the sensitivity for the measurement of a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron (EDM),  by two orders of magnitude. This would contribute to the ongoing search for beyond-Standard Model physics that could explain the matter/antimatter asymmetry arising from CP-violating interactions in the early universe. The experiment relies on several technological advancements including an exceptional magnetic shielding, a non-magnetic composite vacuum chamber, highly stable ultra-cold neutron detectors, novel optical magnetometers, and a delicate ultra-cold neutron guiding system. This experiment is implemented at the new SuperSUN instrument that is currently build by the NPP group at the ILL.

Magnetic sensing is crucial for the panEDM experiment. Control of systematic effects requires knowledge of magnetic fields with few femto-Tesla resolution. During the experimental sequence, we employ optically pumped mercury magnetometers interrogated by a weak UV laser. The modulated absorption of the laser beam can be translated into a highly accurate magnetic field reading. The setup was developed in Munich, but the characterisation and implementation at ILL is still to be finalised. In addition, new, isotopically enriched cells for measurement with optical rotation at higher sensitivity are developed.

This internship gives an opportunity to take part in this ongoing development of the magnetic environment for a high precision experiment, to prepare, perform and analyse experimental data with large potential benefit for the panEDM collaboration and nEDM physics in general. This internship is to be used for the master thesis of the student at his/her home university..

Activities of the trainee:

Local implementation of the optical magnetometry setup that was developed at the Technical University of Munich.

Characterisation and refinement of the magnetometer setup and characterisation of the magnetic environment around the neutron storage chambers.

Development of a control program to analyses the magnetometer data during a measurement  cycle.

Development of a set of new isotopically enriched high-rotation magnetometry cells

Level required:

 2 year university studies in Physics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Hanno FILTER mail: filter@ill.fr

RICOCHET is a new experiment aiming to measure coherent elastic neutrino nuclear scattering (CEνNS) of reactor antineutrinos with cryogenic detectors. It is being prepared by an international collaboration, including the LPSC Grenoble, the i2pi Lyon, and the Institut Laue Langevin where the experiment will be installed. A major challenge for the experiment is to reduce and control the background from cosmic rays and surrounding experiments. For this purpose, an active muon veto made of plastic scintillators and a passive shielding made of lead and polyethylene are currently being installed on the future site of RICOCHET. The internship has the objective to measure and understand the remaining background and comprises experimental and phenomenological tasks. The experimental part consists of data acquisition with different types of detectors (e.g., the muon veto, a Ge detector for the gamma background, 3He neutron detectors for the neutron background) and data analysis. The phenomenological part includes Geant4 simulations to interpret the results and extrapolate them to the future RICOCHET detectors..

Activities of the trainee:

Experimental part: Measurements with different detectors (examples: Ge detectors, 3He detectors, plastic scintillators): installation, data taking, data analysis. Phenomenological part: Geant4 simulations of cosmic radiation and reactor background.

Level required:

 5 year university studies in Physics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Torsten SOLDNER mail: soldner@ill.fr

An estimate for the age of stars in the galaxy is possible principally via the determination of abundances of cosmic chronometers, like Thorium 230 or Uranium 238, which have alpha decay times on the scale of the universe (giga-years). A pre-requisite to the application of cosmochronology is, however, the existence of a robust astrophysical process, which leads in each event to an identical production of U and Th with respect to a stable reference isotpe, such as Barium.

The similarity of the abundance pattern of heavy elements in metal poor halo stars, and the recent observation of the light curve from a binary neutron star merger event give evidence that this may be the astrophysical site for the robust heavy element production pattern. The universality of heavy element abundances up to Th and U steming from these events  appears, however, only possible, if strong fission cycling dominates the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process. 

The proposed intership aims at clarifying the necessary conditions for a robust r-process which would allow  using Th and U as cronometers. In particular the influence of the r-process seed, the sensitivity to various fission modes, and the sensitivity to the fission cycling number  should be investigated. The simulations which should be performed will be done playing existing programs, but also the writing of additional programs to  complete the necessary simulation-tools will be needed..

Activities of the trainee:

The trainee will study the bibliography related to the proposed subject, before using existing simulations in order to test different models. The development/use of a new code will be eventually included as part of the internship.

Level required:

 5 year university studies in Physics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 3 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Caterina MICHELAGNOLI mail: cmichela@ill.fr

Fission is the mechanism that can be used to populate nuclei far from stability and study their structure. By detecting gamma rays from excited fission fragments and analyzing multiple gamma-ray coincidences, nuclear level scheme can be reconstructed. Different campaigns took place in recent years at ILL, using n-induced fission and different experimental setups at the FIPPS instrument. The analysis of those data is of importance both for nuclear structure and for the instrument performance evaluation.

Activities of the trainee:

The internship student will evaluate the performance of FIPPS in different fission campaigns. He/She will analyze multiple gamma-ray coincidence data for reconstructing level schemes in neutron-rich nuclei.

Level required:

 5 year university studies in Physics

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Caterina MICHELAGNOLI mail: cmichela@ill.fr

The European project HighNESS ("Development of High Intensity Neutron Sources at the ESS") has as its goal the to enhance intensities of cold, very cold and ultra-cold neutrons (CN, VCN and UCN)  for future applications in fundamental physics and condensed matter research.

The ILL is involved in this project with the design of a novel moderator for very cold neutrons (VCN).

Clathrate Hydrates – a water based inclusion compound that forms cages which are able to host small guest molecules –  have been identified as a particular promising material for future VCN, as they posses low-energy modes that allow neutrons to deposit small quantities of energy at sufficiently large inelastic scattering cross sections.

For any future application of clathrate hydrates as a VCN moderator a reliable, reproducible manufacturing method of large quantities is crucial. For our purposes a spray technique seems particularly promising, which shall be developed and tested at the ILL.

Activities of the trainee:

The candidate will be involved in the testing and development of  experimental components that will be used for scattering and transmission experiments with a moderator prototype. These will include cryostates, choppers and neutron optical devices.

An emphasis is put on sample preparation with a spray technique. This includes the test and assembly of spraying, pumping, cooling, heating and vacuum systems.

Level required:

 4 year university studies in physics, VCN/UCN physics, neutron moderation

Language skills:

As an international research centre, we are particularly keen to ensure that we also attract applicants from outside France. You must be able to communicate in English or in French.

Notes:

This post is an internship with a maximum duration of 6 months

Please send your application directly to the supervisor: Oliver ZIMMER mail: zimmer@ill.fr