Effect of Disorder and Disordered Materials

Neutron scattering is a powerful and versatile method to characterize the structure and dynamics of materials. The experimental technique was pioneered in the late 1940s, by Drs. Clifford G. Shull and Bertram N. Brockhouse, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994. Over the years, neutron scattering studies have made tremendous impact in many areas of physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and materials engineering.

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Neutron Scattering is a new conference series featuring world-leading neutron scattering scientists who will share and discuss their latest discoveries in the GRC (interactive) style. The inaugural conference will focus on the effect of disorder and disordered materials. Disorder is ubiquitous and often strongly influences the properties of a material. For example, small changes in oxygen stoichiometry in pyrochlore materials and other frustrated magnets, can lead to a very different magnetic response. Meanwhile, microalloying is known to dramatically improve the glass forming ability of bulk metallic glasses. The underling physical mechanisms leading to these novel phenomena are subjects of intense debate. Disordered materials encompass glass, liquids, spin glass, quantum liquids, relaxor ferroelectrics, polymers, and bio systems.

Neutron scattering has played an important role in elucidating the structure and dynamics of disordered materials, and the effect of disorder on properties. However, neutron applications to disorder are very demanding technically, as the scattering tends to be distributed in momentum and energy space, The conference is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together neutron scattering scientists and theorists across the traditional fields of condensed matter physics, materials science, and the soft matter. In spite of the diversity in the materials of interest, the mechanisms underlying their intriguing physical properties could be the same or similar, and the different communities will benefit from each other through exchange of ideas and approaches.

Innovative instrumentation is the backbone of scientific discoveries. One of the nine sessions will be therefore devoted to discussions of the performance of innovative instruments. In addition, there will be a session featuring industrial applications, which connects the neutron scattering community to the public. A diverse and vibrant user community is vital for the success of the neutron scattering facilities. We thus particularly encourage the participation of young scientists, to learn and profit from interactions with leading scientists in neutron scattering in the casual environment provided by the conference.