A total of 22 instrument will be built at the ESS to serve the neutron user community, with the aim of having the initial seven instruments online with the first neutrons in 2019 and the full suite installed in 2025. The Instruments Division at ESS is responsible for the development and coordination of state-of-the art instrument concepts for ESS, in collaboration with our international partners. There are around 40 concepts currently in various stages of conceptual design, both by ESS scientists and by scientific partners. The first two or three instruments will be chosen in early 2013, and a similar number will be chosen each year until 22 have been selected.
The Reference Instrument Suite
Shown above is a schematic layout of the 22 instrument Reference Instrument Suite, which has been developed as a showcase for the types of instruments that could be built at the ESS.
| EAST | SOUTH |
| Pulsed Monochromatic Powder Diffractometer | Multi-Purpose Imaging |
| General Purpose Polarised SANS | Vibrational Spectroscopy |
| Surface Scattering | Fundamental & Particle Physics |
| Vertical Reflectometer | Materials Science & Engineering Diffractometer |
| Bi-Spectral Chopper Spectrometer | Bi-Spectral Powder Diffractometer |
| NORTH | WEST |
| High-Resolution Spin Echo | Cold Chopper Spectrometer |
| Wide-Angle Spin Echo | Backscattering Spectrometer |
| Broad Band Small Sample SANS | Thermal Powder Diffractometer |
| Horizontal Reflectometer | Cold Crystal-Analyser Spectrometer |
| Single-Crystal Magnetism Diffractometer | |
| Extreme Conditions Instrument | |
| Macromolecular Diffractometer |