This award will establish a new NSF sponsored user facility for neutron scattering at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cold Neutron Guide Hall Facility. The instruments are well suited to the needs of the multidisciplinary neutron scattering community, and offer a well-balanced cross section of modern neutron scattering instrumentation for high resolution studies of the micro-structure and dynamics of virtually all classes of materials. They include (1) a high resolution Small Angle Scattering Spectrometer (SANS) with polarized beam capability, and (2) a Spin Polarized Inelastic Neutron Scattering Spectrometer (SPINS) using supermirror polarizers and a "Drabkin" flipper. The latter instrument is being cost shared 50/50 between the NSF and NIST funding. The SANS instrument is of particular appeal to investigators in the fields of Materials Science, Condensed Matter Physics and Chemical Physics, Materials Chemistry, and Polymers Science. The proposed instruments are state of the art facilities and are unequaled in this country and will be competitive with the best facilities worldwide. They will be operated as a user facility with experiments allocated by an outside Program Advisory Committee.
