The road to a station for epithermal and thermal neutron analysis

Despite the large variety of research interests and themes motivating the current neutron research included in this collection, we have found common denominators characterising the manner in which the chosen research methodology tries to tackle the envisaged scientific questions. This article attempts to characterise those trends in current research with the aim of identifying the main mid-to-long term opportunities faced by electron-Volt neutron spectroscopy. The main realisation from this exercise is that the scientific community seems eager to combine neutron-based techniques over a broad energy range. To this end, the most natural choice seems to be to resort to neutron instruments where such capabilities are already present from the outset, with the most prominent example being the VESUVIO spectrometer at the ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source in the UK. However broad the operational basis of the existing neutron beamline infrastructure may be, progress, achievable only through further instrument upgrades, is the only way forward. The need to move forward is clearly seen within the community and is well documented by the research presented in this collection. This need for a substantial upgrade has crystallised in the form of a proposition to build a station rather than a conventional beamline, for Epithermal and Thermal Neutron Analysis station, hereafter ETNA.