A new polarized neutron interferometry facility at the NCNR Shahi, C.B.; Arif, M.; Cory, D.G. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2016, Letnik:
813
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A new monochromatic beamline and facility has been installed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) devoted to neutron interferometry in the ...research areas of spin control, spin manipulation, quantum mechanics, quantum information science, spintronics, and material science. This facility is possible in part because of advances in decoherence free subspace interferometer designs that have demonstrated consistent contrast in the presence of vibrational noise; a major environmental constraint that has prevented neutron interferometry from being applied at other neutron facilities. Neutron interferometry measures the phase difference between a neutron wave function propagating along two spatially separated paths. It is a practical example of self interference and due to its modest path separation of a few centimeters allows the insertion of samples and macroscopic neutron spin rotators. Phase shifts can be caused by gravitational, magnetic and nuclear interactions as well as purely quantum mechanical effects making interferometer a robust tool in neutron research. This new facility is located in the guide hall of the NCNR upstream of the existing Neutron Interferometry and Optics Facility (NIOF) and has several advantages over the NIOF including higher incident flux, better neutron polarization, and increased accessibility. The long term goal for the new facility is to be a user supported beamline and makes neutron interferometer more generally available to the scientific community. This paper addresses both the capabilities and characteristics of the new facility.
Neutron interferometry has played a distinctive role in fundamental science and characterization of materials. Moiré neutron interferometers are candidate next-generation instruments: they offer ...microscopy-like magnification of the signal, enabling direct camera recording of interference patterns across the full neutron wavelength spectrum. Here we demonstrate the extension of phase-grating moiré interferometry to two-dimensional geometries. Our fork-dislocation phase gratings reveal phase singularities in the moiré pattern, and we explore orthogonal moiré patterns with two-dimensional phase gratings. Our measurements of phase topologies and gravitationally induced phase shifts are in good agreement with theory. These techniques can be implemented in existing neutron instruments to advance interferometric analyses of emerging materials and precision measurements of fundamental constants. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
This work reports the production and characterization of lithium-loaded liquid scintillator (LiLS) for the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment (PROSPECT) . Fifty-nine 90 liter ...batches of LiLS (6Li mass fraction 0.082%±0.001%) were produced and samples from all batches were characterized by measuring their optical absorbance relative to air, light yield relative to a pure liquid scintillator reference, and pulse shape discrimination capability. Fifty-seven batches passed the quality assurance criteria and were used for the PROSPECT experiment.
Neutron interferometry has proved to be a very precise technique for measuring the quantum mechanical phase of a neutron caused by a potential energy difference between two spatially separated ...neutron paths inside interferometer. The path length inside the interferometer can be many centimeters (and many centimeters apart) making it very practical to study a variety of samples, fields, potentials, and other macroscopic medium and quantum effects. The precision of neutron interferometry comes at a cost; neutron interferometers are very susceptible to environmental noise that is typically mitigated with large, active isolated enclosures. With recent advances in quantum information processing especially quantum error correction (QEC) codes we were able to demonstrate a neutron interferometer that is insensitive to vibrational noise. A facility at NIST’s Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) has just been commissioned with higher neutron flux than the NCNR’s older interferometer setup. This new facility is based on QEC neutron interferometer, thus improving the accessibility of neutron interferometry to the greater scientific community and expanding its applications to quantum computing, gravity, and material research.
The recent development of phase-grating moiré neutron interferometry promises a wide range of impactful experiments from dark-field imaging of material microstructure to precise measurements of ...fundamental constants. However, the contrast of 3% obtained using this moiré interferometer was well below the theoretical prediction of 30% using ideal gratings. It is suspected that non-ideal aspects of the phase-gratings was a leading contributor to this deficiency and that phase-gratings needed to be quantitatively assessed and optimized. Here we characterize neutron diffraction from phase-gratings using Bragg diffraction crystals to determine the optimal phase-grating orientations. We show well-defined diffraction peaks and explore perturbations to the diffraction peaks and the effects on interferometer contrast as a function of grating alignment. This technique promises to improve the contrast of the grating interferometers by providing in-situ aides to grating alignment.
Abstract Using the quantum information model of dynamical diffraction we consider a neutron cavity composed of two perfect crystal silicon blades capable of containing the neutron wavefunction. We ...show that the internal confinement of the neutrons through Bragg diffraction can be modelled by a quantum random walk. Furthermore, we introduce a toolbox for modelling crystal imperfections such as surface roughness and defects. Good agreement is found between the simulation and the experimental implementation, where leakage beams are present, modelling of which is impractical with the conventional theory of dynamical diffraction. Analysis of the standing neutron waves is presented in regards to the crystal geometry and parameters; and the conditions required for well-defined bounces are derived. The presented results enable new approaches to studying the setups utilizing neutron confinement, such as the experiments to measure neutron magnetic and electric dipole moments.
Using the quantum information model of dynamical diffraction we consider a neutron cavity composed of two perfect crystal silicon blades capable of containing the neutron wavefunction. We show that ...the internal confinement of the neutrons through Bragg diffraction can be modelled by a quantum random walk. Furthermore, we introduce a toolbox for modelling crystal imperfections such as surface roughness and defects. Good agreement is found between the simulation and the experimental implementation, where leakage beams are present, modelling of which is impractical with the conventional theory of dynamical diffraction. Analysis of the standing neutron waves is presented in regards to the crystal geometry and parameters; and the conditions required for well-defined bounces are derived. The presented results enable new approaches to studying the setups utilizing neutron confinement, such as the experiments to measure neutron magnetic and electric dipole moments.
PDF
