Overview of a New Biological Neutron Diffractometer (iBIX) and New Developments in Chemistry and Life Science Brought by iBIX

Abstract

At the next generation neutron source in J-PARC, a new biological diffractometer, IBARAKI Biological Crystal Diffractometer (iBIX), is under construction, which is designed so that it can measure crystals with the cell edges measuring up to c.a. 150 Å and the improved measurement efficiency will be more than 100 times larger than that of the present excellent diffractometer BIX-4 at JRR-3 in JAEA. In this paper the current status of the construction of iBIX is overviewed with expected high performances and new developments in chemistry and life science are predicted from recent results of neutron crystallography at JRR-3.