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Neutron research

NIST is at the forefront of basic research with neutrons, and the NIST Center for Neutron Research is a national resource for industry, universities and government agencies.

See Differently With Neutrons at NIST — How neutrons are used by researchers at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR).

News and Updates

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Detecting the Flavors of Important Elements With Neutron Depth Profiling

The first five minutes of any presentation I give on neutron depth profiling are usually met with blank stares from my audience. This, I hope, is not something about me, but rather due to the audience’s lack of familiarity with the topic. Neutron depth profiling, which is always shortened to NDP, is a little-known technique that belongs to the rarefied field of radiochemistry. In recent decades

When an ordinary beam of neutrons strikes the team’s silicon grating, the millions of scored lines on the grating convert the neutrons into an Airy beam, whose wavefront travels along a parabolic path. The triangular shapes on the detector match the predicted behavior of an Airy beam, offering evidence of the team’s success.

NIST’s Curved Neutron Beams Could Deliver Benefits Straight to Industry

View from near ceiling shows NCNR guide hall filled with big pieces of scientific equipment, including several long cylindrical "guides" running toward the far end of the room.

New Report Highlights Economic Value of Neutron Science to U.S. Industry

A negatively charged membrane at top (in red) attracts small, positively charged molecules (purple circles), which crowd the membrane and push away a far larger, neutral (pink) nanoparticle.

Cells’ Electric Fields Keep Nanoparticles at Bay, Scientists Confirm

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Blog Posts

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Marie Skłodowska-Curie: A Legacy of Innovation and Empowerment for Women in Science

Peter Beaucage wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab, holding a piece of equipment on display.

Robots and AI Are Working Together to Bring You Better Medicines, Shampoo and More

Grace Waters poses smiling in the lab, leaning against a desk with a computer monitor showing data and graphs.

A Summer of Science: NIST Interns’ Stories of Their Time in the Lab

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