Three-port beam splitter for slow neutrons using holographic nanoparticle-polymer composite diffraction gratings

Diffraction of slow neutrons by nanoparticle-polymer composite gratings has been observed. By carefully choosing grating parameters such as grating thickness and spacing, a three-port beam splitter operation for slow neutrons—splitting the incident neutron intensity equally into the ±1st and the 0th diffraction orders—has been realized. As a possible application, a Zernike three-path interferometer is briefly discussed.

[1]  P. Geltenbort,et al.  Mirrors for slow neutrons from holographic nanoparticle-polymer free-standing film-gratings , 2012, 1203.5938.

[2]  Tasaki,et al.  Interferometer for cold neutrons using multilayer mirrors. , 1996, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[3]  O. Bunk,et al.  Neutron phase imaging and tomography. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[4]  J. Řeháček,et al.  Neutron phase contrast tomography on isotope mixtures , 2004 .

[5]  Y. Pokotilovski.  Neutron experiments to search for new spin-dependent interactions , 2011, 1107.1481.

[6]  Romano A. Rupp,et al.  The first neutron interferometer built of holographic gratings , 1997 .

[7]  T Nakamura,et al.  Neutron optical beam splitter from holographically structured nanoparticle-polymer composites. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[8]  J. Kohlbrecher,et al.  Diffraction of slow neutrons by holographic SiO2 nanoparticle-polymer composite gratings , 2011, 1106.1362.

[9]  Yasuo Tomita,et al.  Holographic assembly of semiconductor CdSe quantum dots in polymer for volume Bragg grating structures with diffraction efficiency near 100 , 2009 .

[10]  O. Bunk,et al.  Design, fabrication, and characterization of diffraction gratings for neutron phase contrast imaging. , 2008, The Review of scientific instruments.

[11]  Y. Tomita,et al.  Silica-nanoparticle-dispersed methacrylate photopolymers with net diffraction efficiency near 100%. , 2004, Applied optics.

[12]  A. Ioffe,et al.  Test of a diffraction grating neutron interferometer , 1985 .

[13]  Gabriella Cincotti,et al.  Analytical derivation of the optimum triplicator , 1998 .

[14]  C. Shull,et al.  Observation of Pendellösung Fringe Structure in Neutron Diffraction , 1968 .

[15]  H. Raedt,et al.  Analysis of multipath interference in three-slit experiments , 2011, 1112.2665.

[16]  D. Cory,et al.  Reciprocal space approaches to neutron imaging , 2007 .

[17]  V. Somenkov,et al.  Observation of dynamical oscillations for neutron scattering by Ge crystals using the inclination method , 1978 .

[18]  Off-diagonal geometric phase in a neutron interferometer experiment. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[19]  A. Zeilinger,et al.  Aharonov-Bohm and gravity experiments with the very-cold-neutron interferometer , 2000 .

[20]  D. Cory,et al.  Experimental realization of decoherence-free subspace in neutron interferometry. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[21]  R. Laflamme,et al.  Ruling Out Multi-Order Interference in Quantum Mechanics , 2010, Science.

[22]  Yasuo Tomita,et al.  Highly transparent ZrO(2) nanoparticle-dispersed acrylate photopolymers for volume holographic recording. , 2006, Optics express.

[23]  G. E. R. Schulze,et al.  Pendellösungs-Interferenzen mit thermischen Neutronen an Si-Einkristallen . [Physics, Letters 14 (1965) p. 175] , 1965 .

[24]  M. Suda,et al.  A neutron interferometric measurement of a phase shift induced by Laue transmission. , 2010, Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations of Crystallography.

[25]  Yasuo Tomita,et al.  Holographic manipulation of nanoparticle distribution morphology in nanoparticle-dispersed photopolymers. , 2005, Optics letters.

[26]  T R Gentile,et al.  Precision measurement of the n-3He incoherent scattering length using neutron interferometry. , 2009, Physical review letters.

[27]  Tatiana N. Smirnova,et al.  Effective volume holographic structures based on organic–inorganic photopolymer nanocomposites , 2009 .

[28]  Christian Pruner,et al.  Interferometer for cold neutrons , 2006 .

[29]  Yasuo Tomita,et al.  Holographic recording in TiO2 nanoparticle-dispersed methacrylate photopolymer films , 2002 .

[30]  Tatiana N. Smirnova,et al.  Surface modified ZrO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles embedded in organic photopolymers for highly effective and UV-stable volume holograms , 2007 .

[31]  Yasuo Tomita,et al.  Holographic recording sensitivity enhancement of ZrO2 nanoparticle–polymer composites by hydrogen donor and acceptor agents , 2009 .

[32]  C. David,et al.  Three-dimensional imaging of magnetic domains. , 2010, Nature communications.

[33]  F. Zernike.  A Precision Method for Measuring Small Phase Differences , 1950 .

[34]  R. Loidl,et al.  Violation of a Bell-like inequality in single-neutron interferometry , 2003, Nature.

[35]  A. Cabello,et al.  Experimental test of quantum contextuality in neutron interferometry. , 2009, Physical review letters.