Platypus
Platypus broke the 300nm barrier on the 10th of February, when it successfully took neutron reflectivity data on a 325nm thick film of alumina deposited on silicon. The figure shows neutron and X-ray data from the same film: the narrow spacing of the fringes determines the film thickness and indicates that our instrument can operate well in high-resolution mode. In this case the neutron data appear substantially better in quality because there is more contrast between alumina and silicon with neutrons than with X-rays (the green curve). The sample was prepared by Dr. Gerry Triani in ANSTO's Institute of Materials Engineering.
Our first paper from Platypus has been published, in Macromolecules, on the micro-phase separation of the block co-polymer polymer PMMA77-PBA23. The work was a collaboration between the Key Centre for Polymer Colloids (University of Sydney) and the Bragg Institute.