This brief article describes the content of the December 2003 issue of MRS Bulletin on New Frontiers in the Application of Neutron Scattering to Materials Science. New techniques, new instrumentation, and new sources are providing exciting opportunities for the use of neutron scattering in materials research at a time when the pace of research and development is accelerating while the complexity of the issues governing materials use is increasing. At a time such as this, it is critical to use the best tool for the job, and neutron scattering is evolving into a tool that can be used with many others, rather than a technique only for the specialist. It is also providing unprecedented resolution in energy to allow the study of the slow dynamics characteristic of many problems in soft matter and to probe surfaces and interfaces in a unique way. In this issue, we have chosen three areas to emphasize these trends: neutron reflectivity as a probe of surfaces and interfaces, the use of neutrons to study complex fluids, and high-resolution neutron scattering studies of dynamics. We also give a view of the future of neutron sources, with an article outlining the opportunities to be provided by sources proposed or under construction in Europe, Japan, and the United States. It is our hope that this sampling of new opportunities in neutron scattering will encourage wider use of these techniques to help solve the challenging materials research problems of today and tomorrow.

This article gives an overview of current neutron-scattering facilities and illustrates the capabilities of third-generation sources that are now under development. The new science that is driving this development has been illustrated in the articles in this issue of MRS Bulletin and in a previous issue published in 1999 [MRS Bull.24 (12) (1999) p. 14]. The scale of these facilities is such that only three of them are envisaged worldwide, in the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and America. Two construction projects, the spallation neutron sources in the United States (SNS) and in Japan (J-PARC), are now well under way, while the European proposal for a spallation source (ESS) is still awaiting a decision to start construction.