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Study of the neutron spin-orbit interaction in silicon

Published

Author(s)

Thomas R. Gentile, Michael G. Huber, Muhammad D. Arif, Daniel Hussey, David Jacobson, Donald D. Koetke, Murray Peshkin, Thomas Dombeck, Paul Nord, Dimitry A. Pushin, Robert Smither

Abstract

The neutron spin-orbit interaction, which results from the interaction of a moving neutron's magnetic dipole moment (MDM) with the atomic electric fields, induces a small rotation of the neutron's spin in one Bragg reflection. In our experiment neutrons undergo on the order of 100 successive Bragg reflections on the walls of a slot cut into a perfect silicon crystal to amplify the spin rotation. Here we report a measurement polarization rotation from multiple Bragg reflections. From these measurements, we determined the average atomic electric field sensed by the neutron during Bragg scattering from silicon.
Citation
Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)

Keywords

neutron scattering, neutron optics, Magnetic Dipole Moment

Citation

Gentile, T. , Huber, M. , Arif, M. , Hussey, D. , Jacobson, D. , Koetke, D. , Peshkin, M. , Dombeck, T. , Nord, P. , Pushin, D. and Smither, R. (2019), Study of the neutron spin-orbit interaction in silicon, Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics), [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.100.034005, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927117 (Accessed April 2, 2025)

Issues

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Created September 29, 2019, Updated March 14, 2025