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UK to provide key instruments to world's largest microscope

Xinhua, December 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

UK will contribute to the building of the world's largest microscope, an intergovernmental research infrastructure project, by providing two major instruments, LoKI and FREIA, the country's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced on Monday.

The world's largest microscope, the European Spallation Source (ESS) is currently being built in Sweden. The ESS is one of the largest science and technology infrastructure projects of the decade.These instruments will help scientists in a huge array of applications, ranging from medical research to new materials, better drugs and much more.

LoKI is a small angle neutron scattering instrument for soft matter, materials and bioscience, while FREIA is a horizontal reflectometer that will allow the structural analysis of thin films for the fast growing science areas of soft condensed matter and life sciences, according to STFC.

The UK team for this project comes from STFC's research facility in Oxfordshire.

These two new instruments will provide unique scientific capabilities that will fully exploit the complementary time structures of the ESS and relevant facilities, said Professor Robert McGreevy, a director of STFC's research facility.

ESS is currently being built in Lund in southern Scandinavia. A neutron source such as ESS and its instruments enable scientists to see and understand basic atomic structures and forces. It can be compared with a giant microscope for the study of different materials. At least seventeen European countries are taking part in the construction, financing and operation of the ESS. Endit