# Disentangling time-focusing from beam divergence: a novel approach for high-flux thermal neutron spectroscopy at continuous and long-pulse sources

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel time-focusing technique for neutron spectrometers using a double rotating-crystal monochromator, significantly increasing flux and improving signal quality while maintaining resolution, especially beneficial for low-Q studies in magnetism and disordered materials.

## Contribution

The paper proposes a new time-focusing method with a double monochromator that enhances flux and signal-to-noise ratio without increasing beam divergence.

## Key findings

- Flux gains of about one order of magnitude compared to conventional spectrometers.
- Significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio due to sample positioning.
- Enhanced access to low-Q regions for studies in magnetism and disordered systems.

## Abstract

We present the concept of a novel time-focusing technique for neutron spectrometers, which allows to disentangle time-focusing from beam divergence. The core of this approach is a double rotating-crystal monochromator that can be used to extract a larger wavelength band from a white beam, thus providing a higher flux at the sample compared to standard time-of-flight instruments, yet preserving energy resolution and beam collimation. The performances of a spectrometer based on this approach are quantitatively discussed in terms of possible incident wavelengths, flux at the sample and $(Q,E)$-resolution. Analytical estimates suggest flux gains of about one order of magnitude at comparable resolutions in comparison to conventional time-of-flight spectrometers. Moreover, the double monochromator configuration natively shifts the sample away from the source line-of-sight, thus significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio. The latter, in combination with a system that does not increase the beam divergence, brings the further advantage of a cleaner access to the low-$Q$ region, which is recognized to be of fundamental interest for magnetism and for disordered materials, from glasses to biological systems.