News

The Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) Library combines and makes available the experimental and theoretical knowledge on nuclear data. Release JEFF-4.0 is a significant achievement for the community with major ILL contributions.

A novel porous material capable of separating deuterium from hydrogen at a temperature of 120 K (-153°C) has been introduced. This opens a pathway for sustainable industrial-scale isotope separation using existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure.

Some magnetic materials feature peculiar states the fundamental understanding of which may pave the way for future applications. Neutron experiments have just revealed that they can be unexpectedly stable with respect to microscopic disorder.

In everyday life, we typically encounter water in one of three familiar states – solid, liquid or gas. But there are in fact many more phases, some of which – predicted to exist at high temperature and pressure – are so strange they’re referred to as exotic. State-of-the-art neutron spectrometers and sample environment infrastructures at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) have enabled the first experimental observation of one of these exotic phases – plastic ice VII.

By linking theoretical predictions with neutron experiments, researchers have found evidence for quantum spin ice in the material Ce2Sn2O7. Their findings could inspire the technology of tomorrow, such as quantum computers. The results have been published in the journal ‘Nature Physics’.

Using neutron spectroscopy data taken at ILL, researchers achieved a novel understanding of molecular movement at the nanoscale, providing new insights that may impact the design of future materials and technologies. The study has just been published in the Nature Portfolio open access journal Communications Chemistry – and is featured (as a banner) on the journal homepage.

Courtesy of 2FDN - Written by Valentina Giordano

Neutron spectroscopy provides a range of tools to study the structural dynamics of semiconducting organic materials for novel solar cells with improved power conversion efficiency.

With great sadness, we have learnt that Hannu Mutka died on 25 February as a consequence of an earlier heart attack. Hannu passed away peacefully, surrounded by his close family.As a Finnish youth, Hannu practiced downhill skiing at a semi-professional level. Selected for the Finnish national team, he therefore had to choose between a sports career and continuing his studies. He chose the latter,…

Research has demonstrated the likely critical membrane fusion mechanism involved when the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infects human cells.SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is from a family of single-stranded positive sense RNA viruses named β-coronaviruses. SARS-CoV-2 and oth…

Spin correlations for classical versus quantum spin ice in magnetic pyrochlores. Spin correlations are directly measurable by neutron scattering. Images: O. Benton, O. Sikora, N. Shannon PRB 86(2012)075154. Quantum spin ice is an appealing proposal of a quantum sp…

Schematic, cross-sectional view of a PEM fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel is channelled to the anode, while oxygen from air is channelled to the cathode. At the anode, hydrogen is split into protons (H+) and electrons (e-). The PEM allows the protons to cross to the cathode, while the electrons travel vi…