The objective of the realization of efficient compact neutron sources is to make it possible to perform neutron scattering experiments, with practically the same qualities as those carried out with neutron beam lines from research reactors of the Orphée type*.
These compact sources are obtained from a protons beam of medium-energy (3-50 MeV) and high current (100 mA) impinging on a light element target as beryllium. This interaction creates a neutron emission. In order to be used routinely, the target must be able to withstand long exposure to high irradiation without loss of performance.
The IRFU (DACM, DEDIP, DIS, DPhN) and LLB teams have realized a beryllium target implanted at the exit of the high intensity proton injector - IPHI (3 MeV)
at Saclay. They show that with this device it is possible to obtain the intensity of neutrons necessary to carry out a diffraction experiment in a reasonable time, demonstrating the competitiveness of such a source for neutron scattering compared to current small and medium power nuclear reactors.
*Former research reactor at Saclay, now shutdown.
On the evening of the 28th, we could read on NASA's blog: "It's official, the alignment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is now complete"!
To say that all the instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope are perfectly aligned, means that the primary mirror is well adjusted. The images are already breathtaking while the adjustment phase of all the elements of the telescope is not finished yet.
For this test, the Webb telescope pointed at a star and the quality of the alignment was verified with a part of the Large Magellanic Cloud providing a dense field of hundreds of thousands of stars on all instrument sensors. Webb's three imaging instruments are NIRCam (images below at 2 microns wavelength), NIRISS (image at 1.5 microns) and MIRI (image at 7.7 microns). MIRI detects light in a lower energy range (or longer wavelength) than the other instruments, revealing the emission from interstellar clouds as well as starlight.
These images are used to assess image sharpness, but also to accurately measure and calibrate subtle image distortions and alignments between the instrument's sensors as part of the overall Webb instrument calibration process.
The French teams of the ECLAIRs and MXT telescopes, instruments at the heart of the SVOM mission, experienced an important moment during March 2022. First, a general review of the two projects took place at CNES in Toulouse in front of a group of experts. This review allowed to verify that the two instruments meet the technical specifications and will be able to carry out the scientific mission. Then a series of team visits took place in the two CNES clean rooms housing the flight models of the two instruments, ECLAIRs and MXT.
On February 12, 2022, the ANTARES neutrino telescope (Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch) put an end to its data taking started in 2007. During 15 years, thousands of neutrinos, precious elusive particles witnesses of the cataclysmic phenomena of the Universe, were detected at 2500 m in the Mediterranean abyss. The objective: find abnormal accumulations in the neutrino sky map revealing sources at the still mysterious origin of the cosmic rays, a rain of particles discovered more than a century ago. The CEA team played a leading role in the success of this project, a pioneer in multi-messenger astronomy.
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Dernière mise à jour : Nov 18th, 2024
