NG1 CANDOR

Instrument Purpose

To revolutionize the study of buried interfaces and thin-film structures by utilizing a continuous "white" neutron spectrum to achieve unprecedented measurement speeds and real-time kinetic insights.

The NCNR Advantage

• 25x Intensity Gain: CANDOR revolutionizes reactor-based reflectometry. By collecting a broad range of wavelengths simultaneously (4 Å – 6 Å) rather than a single monochromatic slice, it achieves data collection speeds up to 25 times faster than traditional reflectometers.
• Innovative Chromatic Detection: Employs a unique detector array consisting of 54 individual pyrolytic graphite analyzer crystals in series. This static, reliable configuration allows the instrument to sort the reflected "white" beam into distinct energy bins, maintaining high resolution while utilizing the full flux of the cold source.
• Real-Time Structural Evolution: The massive jump in intensity enables "neutron movies"—the ability to observe structural changes in batteries, membranes, or chemical coatings as they happen, with time resolutions previously impossible at a steady-state source.

Research Domains

• Energy Storage: Operando studies of lithium transport and interfacial degradation in solid-state batteries, high-entropy phase transitions, gas adsorption studies in MOFs
• Quantum Materials: Materials and interfaces for ultra-low power distributed and neuromorphic computing. Mapping magnetic depth profiles in spintronic systems. Understanding and designing new superconductors.
• Qubit Optimization: Isolating defects to improve coherence lifetimes and optimize fabrication processes for quantum devices.
• Process Development: Reveal processing artifacts on film quality for next-generation logic devices such as amorphous oxide semiconductors for back end of line transistors.
• Soft Matter & Biology: Investigating the dynamic self-assembly of lipid bilayers and the swelling of stimuli-responsive polymers.
• Thin Film Kinetics: Tracking rapid diffusion, oxidation, or phase transitions in multi-layered coatings.

What You Can Measure

• Specular Reflectivity: Absolute determination of layer thickness (1nm to 200 nm), density, and roughness.
• Magnetic Depth Profiling: Vector magnetization with sub-nanometer depth resolution.
• Diffraction: Focused Q for rapid measurements of atomic structure with collimation optics optimized for thin films
• Kinetic Data: Structural snapshots taken in minutes rather than hours, allowing for the study of non-equilibrium states.