Recent developments in powder diffraction using pulsed neutrons

Since its birth in the 1950s, developments in powder diffraction using neutrons have utilised the steady-state flux of neutrons produced by nuclear fission inside a reactor core and the technique is now well established as a routine structural probe. In the past decade or so, the potential for such studies using pulsed neutrons has been extensively developed at several facilities, using pulsed-reactors and new spallation sources in which intense bursts of neutrons are generated by the collision of highly accelerated charged particles into a heavy metal target. This paper will provide an introduction to the latter technique, illustrate its current status with examples of scientific research which exploit the specific characteristics of powder diffraction at pulsed neutron sources and briefly discuss planned future developments in sources and diffractometer design.