Detailed characterisation of the incident neutron beam on the TOSCA spectrometer

We report a detailed characterisation of the incident neutron beam on the TOSCA spectrometer. A bespoke time-of-flight neutron monitor has been designed, constructed and used to perform extensive spatially resolved measurements of the absolute neutron flux and its underlying time structure at the instrument sample position. The obtained data give a quantitative understanding of the current instrument beyond neutronic simulations and provide a baseline in order to assess the performance of the upgraded instrument. At an average proton current-on-target of 153μA (ISIS Target Station 1; at the time of measurements) we have found that the wavelength-integrated neutron flux (from 0.28 Å to 4.65 Å) at the position of the TOSCA instrument sample (spatially averaged across the 3×3cm2 surface centred around (0,0) position) is approximately 1.2×106 neutrons cm−2s−1, while the whole beam has a homogeneous distribution across the 3.0×3.5cm2 sample surface. The spectra reproduced the well-known shape of the neutrons moderated by the room temperature water moderator and exhibit a neutron flux of 7.3×105 neutrons cm−2s−1Å−1 at 1 Å.