Neutron optics

Neutron sources are fundamentally limited by their brilliance, leading to long and costly experiments. A neutron focusing optic could provide more than a ten-fold increase in flux — but such a device does not yet exist at scale.

CHEXS offers custom design, fabrication, and characterization of focusing neutron optics based on a Wolter-I geometry. We combine an in-house hot-slumping technique for shaping curved glass substrates with neutron-reflecting multilayer thin-film coatings (up to m=3), drawing on our heritage in X-ray mirror technology for space missions.

Our prototype mirrors have reached our target reflectivity of m=3 in tests at the PSI AMOR beamline in Switzerland, and the results were presented at the International Conference on Neutron Scattering (ICNS 2025) to strong interest from the community.

We've delivered our first neutron-focusing prototype to DTU Energy, and the technology is opening opportunities with major facilities including the European Spallation Source (ESS).