Improvement of a time-of-flight spectrometer AGNES at JRR-3 using supermirror techniques

Akiba, Hiroshi*; Omasa, Yoshinori*; Kofu, Maiko*   ; Zhang, M.*; Sato, Shun*; Yamamuro, Osamu*

AGNES is a direct geometry chopper-type time-of-flight neutron spectrometer installed at the cold neutron guide (C3-1-1) of JRR-3 (Tokai, Japan). This instrument is well-suited for studies on low-energy excitations of powdered and amorphous samples, and quasi-elastic scattering with an energy resolution of 120 eV (standard mode) or 50 eV (high-resolution mode). During the long shutdown period of JRR-3 due to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, AGNES was significantly improved through the installation of supermirror-coated neutron guide tubes and collimator, installation of a new-type top-loading cryo-furnace, and renewal of data acquisition electronics and software. As a result, the neutron intensity has increased by 7.7 times in the standard mode and by 3.2 times in the high-resolution mode. These enhancements facilitate experiments with small amounts of samples, and under special environments, which have previously been challenging.