In addition, VENUS will feature advanced computational methods that make the most of neutron beam time. During experiments, VENUS’s instrument scientists and users will use AI to produce 3D models of samples from time-of-flight raw data in significantly fewer measurements. Instead of experimenters waiting days or even weeks for 3D models of their samples from multiple radiographs, or images of internal form, research teams will have what they came for by the time they wrap up their experiments.
“VENUS offers broad capabilities for access to unique contrasts from many fields in science,” Bilheux said. “And with the help of AI, researchers can get their 3D data as soon as the experiment is over.”
VENUS also provides a platform for the United States to take a leadership role in the developing field of neutron imaging.
“We are thrilled to offer such one-of-a-kind capabilities to user communities around the globe,” said Jens Dilling, associate laboratory director for ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate. “Considering some of the challenges we face as a nation and around the world, science and the talented people who make it happen, as here at VENUS, might be our greatest hope.”
The journey toward VENUS began in 2006 when Bilheux conceived an idea to create a neutron scattering instrument with enhanced imaging contrast for studying crystalline and amorphous samples at the atomic scale without damaging them. As an example, a NASA researcher, assisted by ORNL instrument scientists on the MARS beamline at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR, used neutrons to study extremely fragile moon rocks from Apollo missions. Together, NASA and the MARS team produced a high-resolution virtual rendering of the rocks to complement later measurements at VENUS. In the future, VENUS will help researchers understand the mineral content in the rocks for clues about early planetary formations and where we might find water on the moon.
No other research technique can nondestructively produce such results in 3D with precise information on atomic structure. Neutrons accomplish this because they pass easily through materials without damaging them. Neutron imaging scientists can probe thick samples, generate 3D images and build more complete microscale models of materials based on how neutrons scatter, or bounce, off atoms.
This Oak Ridge National Laboratory news article "VENUS rising: A new dawn for AI-powered atomic-scale 3D imaging" was originally found on https://www.ornl.gov/news