Allectra has created a Tapered flight tube for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

March 2016: Allectra has created a Tapered flight tube as part of a £2 million upgrade to add a Super Mirror Guide (manufactured in Switzerland) to the TOSCA Instrument at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the instrument.

The Tapered flight tube manufactured by Allectra connects a new 17m long Super Mirror Guide (to be installed in June 2016) to the sample position of the TOSCA Instrument on Target Station 1 of the ISIS Neutron Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire UK.

This will mean that a much greater number of neutrons will reach the sample point hence increasing the count rate and reducing the time needed for each experiment, so increasing the efficiency of the instrument.

The Super Mirror guide transports neutrons produced by spallation (protons fired into a Tungsten target) to the sample point where they interact with samples via inelastic neutron scattering which is analysed using detectors to convert the data into an electronic format for post processing by computer (these detectors measure the change in energy and diffraction angle of the neutron as it scatters from the sample).

The final flight tube has to maintain the instrument vacuum at 10-6 mbar and has a quick release flange to aid the removal of the instrument for maintenance.

ALLECTRA TAPERED FLIGHT TUBE