REFocus: A new concept for a very high flux neutron reflectometer

One of the main challenges in neutron scattering is to increase the luminosity of the spectrometers. Here, a new concept of neutron reflectometer is presented. The aim is to maximize the use of the neutrons available in the guide by performing reflectivity measurements in parallel for all wavelengths. The expected flux gains are of the order of 20–50. The proposed design combines advanced neutron optical elements such as elliptical mirrors and graded multilayer monochromators. It does not require new technological developments and can be implemented right now on existing spectrometers. The REFocus set-up would enable to perform classical specular reflectivity measurements at least 10 times faster than on existing spectrometers.