Application spectrum and data quality of the time-of-flight neutron diffractometer ROTAX at ISIS

The time-of-flight neutron diffractometer ROTAX at the pulsed spallation source ISIS is designed as a user instrument for diffraction studies of crystal and magnetic structures of predominantly polycrystalline samples. The multipurpose instrument can also be setup and operated as a texture diffractometer to collect complete pole figures of metallic and geological specimens. The instrument benefits from a wide d-spacing coverage (0.2 to 50 Angstrom), from high resolution at low d-spacings, and from a modular and flexible diffractometer setup. Results of recent performance tests are presented which were carried out to assess the quality of the ROTAX powder diffraction data and results. Present use and potential new applications of the user instrument are discussed.