Scope

The world around us is ever changing. It is one of the main challenges of modern science to rationalize these kinetic processes in areas extending from physics via chemistry to biology. A deeper understanding of kinetic processes has far reaching implications for technology and environment.
Neutrons are known to be extremely versatile probes for the investigation of structure and dynamics in condensed matter. Due to their large penetration depth they are able to penetrate large samples unperturbed by sophisticated and advanced sample environments. The advent of new high intensity neutron sources and instruments as well as the development of new real-time techniques allows for the tracking of transformation processes in condensed matter on a microscopic scale. The evolution not only of structural details but also of dynamical properties and chemical bonding far from equilibrium can be studied by time-resolved neutron scattering over a broad range of time. This information is particularly useful for the development of new materials and the exploration of transformation mechanisms. Hence, kinetics with neutrons is a new and exciting field of neutron research with strong implications for applied science.
The scope of this symposium is to bring together neutron experts as well as scientists from different fields of chemistry, physics, biology, materials science and geo-sciences from Europe, the United States and Australia to discuss existing results and possible new applications and future prospects for time-resolved reflectivity. It is an important aspect of the meeting to see what other experimental techniques like synchrotron radiation achieve in this field and where theoreticians see future challenges.

The following topics will be covered:

• experimental techniques for real-time neutron scattering
  
• diffraction during chemical processes and phase transitions
  
• real-time small-angle scattering from soft and hard matter
  
• time-dependent dynamics
  
• prospects of time-resolved reflectivity
  

The scientific programme will consist of invited lectures as well as oral and poster contributions. The proceedings will be published in the European Physical Journal – Special Topics. Moreover, a special volume of Springer Series in Solid State Sciences with a collection of invited papers will provide a broad overview of the field.