An achromatic neutron lens
Neutrons provide exceptional insight into materials, owing to their sensitivity to light elements, isotopic composition, magnetic moments, and high-penetration. However, neutron sources are polychromatic and of low brightness. Neutron optics provides a route to address these limitations by focusing, and to date, various types of neutron optics have been developed based on reflection, refraction, diffraction, and magnetism. Notably, compound refractive lenses and Fresnel zone plates have been demonstrated for imaging, yet their severe chromatic aberration under polychromatic beams has prevented their widespread use and limits progress towards true high-resolution neutron microscopy. Here, we demonstrate an achromatic neutron lens for full-field neutron microscopy. This development overcomes the intrinsic sample-detector distance constraint in pinhole-based radiography. The lens magnification enables the use of efficient detection systems without loss of spatial resolution and establishes a pathway towards high-resolution neutron microscopy. We anticipate the neutron achromat will advance a broad range of neutron methods.
Authors
- Alessandro Tengattini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0320-3340)
- Lukas Helfen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5243-2310)
- Christian Dávid (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2953-1265)
- Matteo Busi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8195-7477)
- Markus Ströbl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9315-8787)
- Joan Vila‐Comamala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1543-3146)
- Anders Kaestner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4054-4726)
- Anna Fedrigo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1652-5608)
- Huiyuan Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3855-4725)
- Hongchang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7815-610X)
- Di Qu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2701-0108)
- Mano raj Dhanalakshmi veeraraj
- Silas Strebel
- Piero Tranchida
- Peng Qi
Institutions
- Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Synlab Czech (Czechia) (CZ)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Institut Universitaire de France (FR)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- Diamond Light Source (GB)
- Institut Laue-Langevin (FR)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-06-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74925-w
- Primary Topic
- Nuclear Physics and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Diamond Light Source
- Paul Scherrer Institut
- Danmarks Tekniske Universitet