Neutron scattering is a powerful technique to study the structure and dynamics of materials over a wide length and time scales. The research reactors at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) provide a great variety of neutron scattering facilities in the country under the ‘National Facility for Neutron Beam Research’. This facility is accessible to all the Universities and National Laboratories. This facility is being supported by UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences and other agencies.  The research seminar gave an Introduction to the neutron scattering techniques, different facilities available at BARC, and some unique applications of neutron scattering for the characterisation of nanostructured materials.

Professor  VK Aswal is the Head, Small Angle Scattering Section, Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He is also a Professor at the Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai.  He has been a Scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre since 1993. Professor Aswal has a MSc in Physics from IIT Bombay, PhD from Bombay University, and a Post-doctorate from Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland. Professor Aswal has expertise in the field of neutron scattering techniques for its applications to soft matter, nanomaterials, and biological systems.  Professor Aswal has received many awards; IUMRS Young Research Award (1998), IPA Best Thesis Award (1999), Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2000-2005), IPA Satyamurthy Young Scientist Award (2001), Scopus Young Scientist Award (2007),  DAE-SSPS-2007 Young Achiever Award, DAE-Scientific & Technical Excellence Award (2008), DAE Group Achievement Award (2009), DAE-SRC Outstanding Investigator Award (2012) and Homi Bhabha Science & Technology Award (2012). He has published more than 300 research papers in different journals.