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Metrics
The NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) is currently navigating a pivotal era of modernization. While our reactor has undergone an extended maintenance and recovery period, the metrics of the last five years reveal a facility that is far from idle. Instead, they tell a story of strategic investment, scientific resilience, and an unwavering commitment to the U.S. research community.
Why Our Metrics Matter Today
- Scientific Continuity: Despite restricted reactor operations, our community has consistently produced over 200–300 publications annually. This output is driven by the active collaboration of NCNR scientists, who continue to support data analysis and modeling for researchers nationwide through the use of other facilities, leveraging legacy data, and partnerships with other agencies.
- Modernizing for a 10x Leap: We are leveraging this period to upgrade 3 beamlines, build a new neutron spectrometer, upgrade 11 other instruments, and enhance multiple sample environments. These improvements are not incremental; they are designed to deliver data rate gains of up to a factor of ten across several instruments, ensuring that our facility is globally more competitive and productive than ever before.
- Sustaining the STEM Pipeline: Our educational programs and partnership with the National Science Foundation, including the CHRNS Neutron Schools and student internships, continue to train approximately 75 graduate students and host dozens of undergraduate interns each year, ensuring that the U.S. workforce is ready to utilize advanced neutron techniques.
- Economic and Industrial Impact: We remain a critical partner for U.S. industry. Through industry-friendly access and collaboration agreements, we continue to provide data that informs the development of next-generation batteries, life-saving pharmaceuticals, and high-strength materials.
Looking Ahead to 2027
The upcoming year marks the resumption of full-power operations at 20 MW. The metrics on this page will soon reflect a significant recovery in beam time availability and on-site user participation.
Explore the sections below to see how our commitment to measurement science delivers a measurable return on investment for the nation.
INSTRUMENTS
This metric quantifies the number of instruments available to the scientific community. It represents the facility's capacity to provide diverse measurement techniques for structural and dynamical studies of materials. NCNR has 29 instruments in total. For additional information about the instruments, visit the Neutron Instruments page. For information about the status of the instruments, visit the Facility/Instruments Status page.
Instrument Technique | Number of Instruments | Key Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Small-Angle Scattering | 5 | Probes structures from 1 nm to 10,000 nm; includes the high-throughput and versatile vSANS instrument. |
| Reflectometers | 3 | Analyzes thin films and interfaces; includes the innovative white-beam CANDOR reflectometer. |
| Spectrometers | 7 | Measures atomic and molecular motions; includes the world-class v-NSE (Neutron Spin Echo) and the highest cold neutron flux MACS instrument. |
| Diffractometers | 2 | Determines atomic-level crystal structures and residual stresses in engineering parts. |
| Analytical & Imaging | 5 | Non-destructive depth profiling, elemental analysis, and 3D imaging. |
| Fundamental Physics | 6 | Precision measurements of neutron flux, lifetime, and magnetic properties. |
| Test Stations | 1 | Assessing new measurement techniques and hardware |
PUBLICATIONS
This metric tracks the annual number of peer-reviewed scientific articles published in technical journals that utilize data acquired at the NCNR or result from direct collaboration with NCNR staff. Each year, NCNR publishes an average of 300+ papers.
Research Participants
This is our broadest measure of impact. It includes every individual engaged with the NCNR’s mission: physical on-site users, active collaborators (such as co-proposers of experiments and co-authors of resulting publications), and educational participants in our specialized schools and internship programs. Each year, approximately 2,000 research participants from government, industry, and academia are served by the facility. Fewer operational days starting in 2020 due to COVID-19 closures and an unplanned shutdown resulted in fewer research participants.
