Neutron fibre diffraction: Recent advances at the ILL

Before the ILL reactor shutdown in 1991 a group from Keele started neutron diffraction studies of DNA on diffractometer D19. Although neutron diffraction had been used before to investigate the structural properties of fibrous polymers these were the first high-resolution studies. Following the restart in 1995 groups from Cambridge, EMBL Grenoble, ILL, Julich, Keele, Parma and Stockholm began studies using this new technique on a wide variety of systems. This report outlines this trend and the technological and methodological advances which are making it possible.