Alignment facility and software for single crystal time of flight neutron spectroscopy

An instrument and software algorithm is described for the purpose of characterization of large single crystals at the Alignment Facility (ALF) of the ISIS spallation neutron source. We describe a method for both characterizing the quality of the sample and also aligning it in a particular scattering plane. We present a software package written for this instrument and demonstrate its utility by way of an example of the structural characterization of large singles crystals of Pb(Mg$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$)O$_{3}$. We suggest extensions and modifications of characterization instruments for future improved beamlines. It is hoped that this software will be used by the neutron user community for pre characterizing large single crystals for spectroscopy experiments and that future facilities will include such a facility as part of the spectroscopy suite at spallation neutron sources.