Paul Langan, DG of the ILL, reflects on LINXS’ role in building bridges between the ILL and the ESS
Paul Langan is Director General of the ILL, Institut Laue Langevin.
Paul Langan, Director General of the ILL, Institut Laue Langevin, gave a guest lecture at LINXS in late November. He has unique, world-leading experience of managing large scale neutron facilities, and as previous Associate Director at Oak Ridge National laboratory, he was responsible for leading the operation and development of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) user facilities.
During his visit, he reflected on the future role of LINXS in relation to building bridges between the ILL and the ESS neutron communities, spoke about the need for strong ecosystems to progress research and innovation in relation to some of our most pressing challenges, and emphasized the endless possibilities afforded by neutron techniques.
Grenoble and Lund share many similar features
– Here in Lund, you have the same three ingredients which make Grenoble, where the ILL is based, a great place to do research: world leading experimental facilities, including powerful neutron and X-ray sources, a brilliant university, and a metropolis that provide us with a strong infrastructure. As such the ecosystems for innovation are quite similar, although the facilities in Grenoble have been in use for much longer of course, he says.
Paul Langan explains that the ILL and the ESS will be mutually dependent on each other once the ESS opens: the ILL offers users a reactor neutron source, whereas the ESS is a spallation neutron source. Both facilities are world-leading, and will together enable researchers in Europe and beyond to have accelerated access to two complementary neutron sources.
A strong link between the ILL and ESS will be important
– A strong link between the ILL and the ESS will be absolutely crucial to support the expansion of neutron-based research. LINXS can potentially be a really strong partner for supporting collaboration between the ESS and the ILL in terms of reinforcing the two neutron communities.
He can see LINXS taking a convening role, bringing people together to discuss and progress science in certain topical areas. This can take the form of offering people an environment in which to meet and discuss, or to open up specific themes of interest. LINXS can also be a place to form and establish important networks that in turn can facilitate collaborations between different neutron researchers and entities.
Neutrons yield unique insights
Improved collaboration between neutron communities will be of special importance, he emphasizes. Many of the problems humanity faces today: energy, climate change, and the need for new communication technologies, all require scientific insights that can be uniquely provided by neutrons. Examples include improved battery storage, fuel cells and quantum computers.
– Neutrons, because of their magnetic and non-destructive properties and their sensitivity to light atoms and isotopes, can yield new research findings, that are not possible with other techniques, although they need to be complemented with other experiments, of course. As such, we need to support the community to grow, and increase user capacity. LINXS can for example focus on a few of these research frontiers, and help the neutron community to gather around certain topics.
Neutrons are being applied to more societal challenges
Up to now, the neutron community in Europe and the rest of the world has been smaller than the X-ray one, because there is greater capacity at more numerous X-ray facilities. Researchers can also do X-rays experiments using small laboratory sources at Universities, but to do neutrons sources they have to go to large national or international facilities. However, Paul Langan, believes that neutrons are being applied to an increasingly broad range science problems, many of which are important to emerging societal challenges.
– Some neutron techniques are quite complicated, especially for condensed matter physics, and rely on the use of the magnetic properties of neutrons. At the same time, we now have this growing area of neutron scattering, which concerns the structure and dynamics of materials: research that can lead on to new, more effective batteries or fuel cells for example. These techniques are often easier for researchers to access and the scientific results they produce are increasing in impact.
– It is in this field, I can see neutrons making a growing impact. And that is why I am now glad that we soon will have another world-leading neutron source opening for users. The neutron community needs access to different neutron sources, larger and smaller ones, accelerator-based and reactor-based, to realise its full potential to create an impact for society, he concludes.