To serve the needs of the growing community of scientists using neutrons or synchrotron radiation in their research, the Austrian Physical Socity (ÖPG) in 1996 has created the section "Research with Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation" (NESY). It was decided from the beginning thst this section of the ÖPG should not be reserved to physicists alone but be open to all researchers using neutrons or synchrotron radiation as their main tool. Currently, NESY has about 85 members, many of them young researchers.
NESY is also represented at the European Neutron Scattering Association (ENSA).
Austria does not have a strong national neutron or synchrotron source but is member of the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble. A small 250 kW reactor is also operated at the Atominstitut in Vienna. Austrian researchers are working on many neutron and synchrotron sources across Europe and the world. Currently, there are privileged relations with some centres, such as the synchrotron source ELETTRA in Trieste or the neutron facility at Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (LLB) in Saclay, France, the ISIS spallation source in the U.K. and the SINQ-spallation source in Switzerland , where Austrian groups have built beamlines. The Austrian participation in the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble from 2002 can be considered as the most important success resulting from NESY activities during the last years. A longterm project for NESY is the development, construction and operation of an advanced spallation neutron source with European participation and located in Austria (AUSTRON). Main scientific event of NESY is the biannual meeting and Winterschool (Ferienschule Planneralm) in the Austrian Alps.
NESY is, of course, the sum of its members, which are listed here with their addresses. Links to many of their homepages should provide a broad picture of the importance of neutron and synchrotron radiation for science and technology in Austria.
September, 2004 Gerhard Krexner,
NESY ChairpersonChristina Streli,
NESY Secretary