Neutron Scattering Group

Welcome to the home page of the Neutron Scattering Group, a member of the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

We use elastic and inelastic neutron scattering techniques to study cooperative phenomena in complex solids.  Much of our research is presently focused on transition-metal oxide compounds.  Current research topics include:

• High-temperature superconductivity
• Charge and spin order in doped Mott insulators
• Quantum and low-dimensional magnetism
• Relaxor ferroelectrics

Our experiments are typically performed on single crystal samples, many of which are grown and characterized at Brookhaven.   We perform our scattering experiments at the top neutron facilities in the world.  Within the U.S., we work regularly at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) and at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).  We look forward to doing experiments at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS at ORNL), once it is completed and commissioned.  In collaboration with ORNL, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, JAERI, and other institutions, we are involved in the design and construction of new spectrometers. These include a Hybrid Spectrometer (HYSPEC) for the SNS, and the relocation of the US-Japan triple-axis spectrometer to cold-guide-4 at HFIR. There is also a  science alliance with NCNR.

Last Modified: Friday, 21-Mar-2008 13:23:11 EDT
Please forward all questions about this site to: Kim Mohanty

:: News :: Announcements ::

A retired BNL employee and distinguished member of the Neutron Scattering Group, Larry Passell, and two long term  collaborators, Robert Birgeneau and Sunil Sinha, were recently honored by being selected as fellows of the Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA), details here (PDF).

Two Group Members honored with a 2007 BNL Employee Award, Eileen Levine, Spotlight Award, and William Leonhardt, Engineering Award, details and photos here.

"Hidden Order Found in a Quantum Spin Liquid" by G. Xu et al.; read about it in Science Magazine: Abstract, Full Text (PDF).

"Neutron and X-ray Scattering at the Frontiers and Gen Shirane" Special Topics of JPSJ, Nov. 2006

John Tranquada elected Fellow of the AAAS details here

John Tranquada awarded the 2006 Sustained Research Prize of the Neutron Scattering Society of America  details here

John Tranquada and Genda Gu find More Evidence for "Stripes" in High-Temperature Superconductors. Supports earlier controversial finding, may help explain superconducting mechanism - read further in Laboratory News or in Nature (2006) or cond-mat/0512063

"Ferroelectric' Material Reveals Unexpected Behavior" - read Brookhaven Bulletin article on Guangyong Xu's work or Nature Materials (2006)

"Quasiparticle Behavior In Bose Quantum Liquids - Discovering the failure point of certain quasiparticles may help to understand unusual behavior of many useful materials" - read Brookhaven Bulletin article on Igor Zaliznyak's work here or Nature (2006) or cond-mat/0511266

Gen Shirane: Accomplishments and Reminiscences

"Quantum magnetic excitations from stripes in copper oxide superconductors," Tranquada et al.,  Nature (2004)  or cond-mat/0401621