Millennium Programme
In 2000, the ILL launched the Millennium Programme designed to establish a sustainable strategy for the continual improvement of its infrastructure and instruments. Founded on new scientific opportunities, as well as exciting developments in instrument design – detectors, monochromators – spin polarisers and higher-performance neutron guides, this strategy attracted substantial funding from the ILL’s Associate Members.
The Millennium Programme has been implemented in two phases
First phase (2001-2008) 'M0'
14 new or upgraded instruments, 42 M€ invested.
The ILL’s Millennium Programme features on the ESFRI Roadmap (European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructure) and the first phase has been partly financed by the European Commission. It has boosted the efficiency of the ILL’s instrument suite by a factor of 19.
Second phase (2009-2018) 'M1'
4 new instruments + 3 instruments CRG
4 instrument upgrades
43 M€ invested
With the commissionning of WASP, the Millennium Programme has been successfully achieved in 2018.
All in all, together with the skill and diligence of ILL staff, we have been able to build or upgrade 25 instruments. The replacement of the neutron guides alone has led to a doubling of neutron intensity for many instruments. It has contributed to improving the average detection rate of neutrons for all instruments, which has been boosted by 25 times! (see graph below).
