2018 Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 7-10
The first neutron source for neutron scattering experiments based on an accelerator was built at Laboratory for Nuclear Science (Present name is Research Center for Electron Photon Science) in Tohoku University. An electron linear accelerator was used for neutron generation. This facility was equipped with a thermal neutron source. Various kinds of instruments suitable to the pulsed neutron source were developed and pioneering works were performed. Later on, an electron linac facility in Hokkaido University was used for development of a cold neutron source and quasi-elastic scattering spectrometers. Knowledges and technologies accumulated in these facilities helped construction of KENS (National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK) Neutron Source). KENS proved usefulness of a cold neutron source even at a pulsed neutron source and expanded applications in soft matter field as well as hard matter field. The ideas incubated during this process have been taken over to J-PARC/MLF.
