Comparison of white neutron sources for nuclear astrophysics experiments using very small samples

The purpose of this paper is to compare the relative merits of four white neutron source facilities for nuclear astrophysics experiments. The four facilities are the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator, the Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center, the CERN-TOF facility, and the Oak Ridge Spallation Neutron Source. The criteria for this comparison are based on experiments designed to determine astrophysical rates for neutron-induced reactions using radioactive as well as very small stable samples – areas largely unexplored at present.