Often the interesting experiments with neutron scattering come down to measuring weak signals due to low scattering cross-section. Moreover, these signals can be dwarfed by the background. Nowhere it is more acute than in the experiments involving high-pressures, where an already small sample needs to be placed in a bulky pressure cell.

To understand and mitigate this problem, we have been working with the neutron optics group at PSI to perform neutron ray-tracing simulations to understand the exact sources of the background and design neuron-absorbing structures to be printed with additive manufacturing methods. With several ongoing projects underway, there is an early report of one of the tests: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168900224005606