The possibilities currently offered and major scientific problems solved by time-of-flight neutron diffraction are reviewed. The reasons for the rapid development of the method over the last two decades has been mainly the emergence of third generation pulsed sources with a MW time-averaged power and advances in neutron-optical devices and detector systems. The paper discusses some historical aspects of time-of-flight neutron diffraction and examines the contribution to this method by F.L. Shapiro whose 100th birth anniversary was celebrated in 2015. The state of the art with respect to neutron sources for studies on output beams is reviewed in a special section.

Keywords: neutron diffraction, advanced neutron sources, pulsed neutron sources, time-of-flight technique, crystal structure PACS: 29.25.Dz, 61.05.fm (all) DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.0186.201603e.0293 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2016/3/e/ 000377714900005 2-s2.0-84976382457 2016PhyU...59..279A Citation: Aksenov V L, Balagurov A M "Neutron diffraction on pulsed sources" Phys. Usp. 59 279–303 (2016) BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks Received: 31st, August 2015, accepted: 22nd, September 2015 Оригинал: Аксёнов В Л, Балагуров А М «Дифракция нейтронов на импульсных источниках» УФН 186 293–320 (2016); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0186.201603e.0293