The First Two Decades of Neutron Scattering at the Chalk River Laboratories
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
I sincerely appreciate the great effort that Dr. Holden has put into writing a comprehensive review on the development of the instrumentation, techniques, and science for neutron scattering using NRX and NRU reactors at the Chalk River Laboratories, which eventually laid the foundation for the field of inelastic neutron scattering.
This review covers a great number of ground breaking measurements and significant scientific work done by the scientists at Chalk River Labs, with a focus on the time period from 1949 to 1965. I appreciate the author's record of the science and acknowledgment to the scientists who had worked in the neutron scattering facilities, in addition to Bert Brockhouse’ Nobel Prize legacy. The extraordinary neutron beams and scientific staff at Chalk River shall be honored in the history of condensed matter physics.
It would be great to have a table of contents in order to better guide readers. Moreover, I wondered if there are other technical and supportive staff of the facilities whom Dr. Holden would like to acknowledge, in addition to the scientists listed at the end of the manuscript.
Author Response
To reviewer 1
Thank you for your suggestions. It would be a good idea indeed to include the names of the principal members of the technical staff who supported the neutron effort over the years. I will do this.
Reviewer 2 Report
This review of the first two decades of Neutron Scattering at Chalk River is excellent, and could be published "as is".
I have a few general comments/suggestions, and a couple of minor typographical errors to correct, for the author's discretion:
1. Towards the beginning, it might also be worth referring to Ruth Fawcett's excellent book "Nuclear Pursuits, The Scientific Biography of Wilfrid Bennett Lewis", McGill University Press 1994.
2. It might also be worth mentioning that the high-energy phonons in diamond were also measured at Chalk River, either in the section on graphite (Sec 4.1.4) or in the section on "Diamond-structure elements" (Sec. 3.2). A suitable reference would be: J. L. Warren et al., Phys. Rev. 158, 805 (1967).
3. Given that Chalk River played a key role in the first observation of the "Haldane Gap", a Nobel-Prize winning piece of theory, it would be worth referencing the following papers on p.70 (line 1933): F. D. M. Haldane, Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 1153 (1983); W. J. L. Buyers et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 371 (1986).
4. There is an extra redundant line break on line 266 (p. 7)
5. On line 659 (p.21), I don't think that units are needed after "Q = 0"
6. On line 1767 (p.65), it should be "Watanabe" rather than "Watenabe"
7. On line 1869 (p.68), it should be "Brockhouse's" rather than "Brockhouse'"
Author Response
To reviewer 2
Thank you for the careful reading of the manuscript. I agree with the minor modifications regarding spelling, line breaks etc. and will make the modifications. I will mention Ruth Fawcett's book for the light it shows on Lewis's guidance of basic research. I will have to re-read it again and that will take a littel time. I will incorporate references to the Haldane paper and to the Chalk River/Toronto experimental evidence with Bill Buyers as principal author but will have to re-read these references.
With respect to phonons in diamond I do not know of a reference to Chalk River work nor was there ever talk of a neutron-sized single crystal at the lab. The experiment was done at Los Alamos where the small reactor there had an augmented flux of relatively high thermal neutron energies. If you are aware of a Chalk River contribtion to diamond I would be very pleased to include it.
