A Focusing-geometry small-angle neutron scattering instrument with a magnetic neutron lens

Oku, Takayuki   ; Iwase, Hiroki; Shinohara, Takenao   ; Yamada, Satoru; Hirota, Katsuya*; Koizumi, Satoshi; Suzuki, Junichi; Hashimoto, Takeji; Shimizu, Hirohiko

Measuring efficiency and/or angular resolution of small-angle neutron scattering experiments can be improved by focusing neutrons on a detector plane. Thus, a magnetic focusing lens (MNL) have been installed into the SANS instrument, SANS-J-II, of JRR-3 in AEA for the focusing-geometry SANS (FSANS) experiments. The MNL is an extended Halbach-type permanent sextupole magnet. The inner diameter and length of the MNL are 35 mm and 1200 mm, respectively. As the MNL functions as the focusing lens only for the polarized neutron with positive polarity, the incident neutron polarization is set positive by using the supermirror polarizer and the two-coil spin flipper. The intensity distribution of the neutrons focused by the MNL at the detector position was measured by using a high-resolution photomultiplier-based scintillation detector. In this paper, the neutron focusing property of the focusing setup is investigated, and the performance of the FSANS instrument is discussed.