Welcome to the website of the
Société Française de la Neutronique
Welcome to the website of the
Société Française de la Neutronique
The SFN is a learned society created in 1994 to promote neutronics within the scientific community and to federate the French neutronics community, covering a wide range of scientific fields (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.).
Every year, it organises the Journées de la Diffusion Neutronique, during which it awards its thesis prize to a young scientist.
Thematic Schools are held regularly, with courses published and freely accessible.
Finally, this website is at your disposal: it provides a forum for exchanging information about neutronics. Don’t hesitate to contact us and provide new ideas of contents!
SFN documents
- Please find here the report of the round table on the future of French neutron scattering held during JDN2024.
- A round table on HiCANS and the ICONE project was held during the JDN2023. Please find here a summary of the discussion.
- The SFN calls for an ambitious French policy for neutron scattering. A letter has been sent in 2023 to the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the CNRS and the CEA.
Bulletin SFN-2FDN
SFN Thesis Prize
Winner 2025
Jury chaired by Olivier Diat
Valentin Czamler
Deuterated Clathrate Hydrates as novel Moderator Material for a Source of Very Cold Neutrons
News
Prize ENSA « Neutron Instrumentation and Innovation » 2025
The 2025 “Neutron Instrumentation and Innovation” Prize is awarded to Iurii Kibalin:
“for its significant impact on polarized neutron diffraction techniques. His development of the CrysPy software tool has transformed polarized neutron powder diffraction on magnetic samples into a routine, accessible method for a broad scientific community. »
Iurii Kibalin is scientist at ILL.
Prize ENSA « Walter Hälg » 2025
The 2025 Walter Hälg Prize is awarded to Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal for the creation of the “Full Prof” software:
Made available to the international community, Full Prof is a tool for analyzing X-ray or neutron diffractograms on polycrystals using the Rietveld method. The software takes into account numerous effects: instrumental resolution, texture, rigid groups, absorption, and single crystals, and allows the determination of magnetic structures. Historically based on the method of irreducible representations, the software is now based on the formalism of magnetic space groups or supergroups.
Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal is scientist at ILL.
prize Erwin Félix Lewy Bertaut 2025
The Erwin Félix Lewy Bertaut Prize is awarded jointly by the European Crystallographic Association and the European Neutron Scattering Association to a young researcher in recognition of notable experimental, methodological, or theoretical contributions to the study of matter using crystallographic or neutron scattering methods.
The 2025 prize was awarded to Dalila Bounoua of the Léon Brillouin Laboratory (NFMQ team).
Deuterated Clathrate Hydrates as a Novel Moderator Material for Very Cold Neutrons
Producing more intense very cold neutron beams could enhance both neutron scattering techniques and precision experiments in particle physics using slow neutrons. Clathrate hydrates containing THF-d and O₂ offer new moderation pathways via localized low-energy modes. Neutron scattering experiments confirmed the hydrate structure as well as vibrational and magnetic contributions to neutron thermalization.
JDN 2025
The SFN thesis prize was awarded to Valentin Czamler for his research conducted at the ILL, focusing on the use of hydrated clathrates for the production of cold and ultra-cold neutrons. The award ceremony took place during the French Neutron Scattering Days (JDN 2025), held on the shores of Lake Annecy from June 2 to 6.
Design of Thermo-Responsive Self-Assembly of PEGylated Fatty Acids: Switching Reversibly from Tubes or Vesicles to Micelles at Physiological Temperature
In drug delivery, it is of utmost importance to render the nanocarriers “stealth” in order to prevent protein adsorption from physiological fluids, otherwise a protein corona will grow rapidly around them and will drive their in vivo biological fate. To this goal, the most widespread strategy consists in decorating nanocarriers with a protective polymeric shell of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains. We present here a simple and robust one-pot route to design thermo-responsive PEGylated self-assemblies of fatty acids into two morphology types at room temperature, multi-lamellar tubes or vesicles, which transit reversibly upon heating into small ellipsoidal micelles around physiological temperature, as demonstrated by Small Angle Neutron Scattering. It is based on the controlled insertion of various PEG chains end-capped by fatty acid moieties into self-assemblies of 12-hydroxy stearic acid, a bio-based green surfactant.