XtremeD – a new neutron diffractometer for high pressures and magnetic fields at ILL developed by Spain

Neutron diffraction has unique capabilities for scientific research under extreme conditions, mainly in two large areas: crystallography/geosciences and magnetism/solid-state physics. The growing interest in these fields is attested by the quantity and quality of publications, by the number of experiments proposed at the different neutron sources and by the new instrumentation projects under development all around the world. Therefore, the Spanish scientific community and the ILL are considering the construction of a CRG “eXtreme conditions Diffractometer (XtremeD)” for both single crystals and powders, operating at high pressures (up to 50 GPa) and high magnetic fields (up to 15 Tesla). At the present time we are working on the finalization of the technical project, and the construction phase is expected to start in 2011. The scientific areas in which the projected instrument can make significant contributions and the main technical characteristics of the project are discussed in this paper.