Nuclear physics

News and Updates

Groundbreaking Technique Yields Important New Details on Silicon, Subatomic Particles and Possible ‘Fifth Force’

September 9, 2021

Using a groundbreaking new technique at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an international collaboration led by NIST researchers has

A twist and a spin: harnessing two quantum properties transforms a neutron beam into a powerful probe of material structure

October 29, 2019

By cleverly manipulating two properties of a neutron beam, NIST scientists and their collaborators have created a powerful probe of materials that have complex

Six people stand in front of a tan building, cutting a blue ribbon

NIST Unveils New Laboratory Building for Improved National Radiation Measurements

September 24, 2019

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to unveil a

Projects and Programs

Fundamental Physics: Precision Measurement of the Branching Ratio and Energy Spectrum of Radiative Neutron Decay

Neutron beta-decay is typically considered as a three-body process, but it is always accompanied by inner-bremsstrahlung soft photons, n → e− + p + νe + γ. This

Applied: Methods in Neutron Detection and Spectroscopy

We continue to work improving techniques in fast neutron detection using segmented spectrometers based on the principle of capture-gating. Our approach employs

Fundamental Physics: Search for Time Reversal Violation in Polarized Neutron Decay (emiT)

The "emiT" experiment searched for time-reversal symmetry violation term in neutron beta decay. It did so by measuring electron-proton coincidence events from

Security (Archive): Neutron Detector Replacement Program

The Department of Homeland Security/Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DHS/DNDO) is pursuing a course to transform 3He alternative technologies into integrated

Publications

Pendellosung Interferometry Probes the Neutron Charge Radius, Lattice Dynamics, and Fifth Forces

September 10, 2021

Author(s)

Benjamin J. Heacock, Robert W. Haun, Michael G. Huber, Albert Henins, Robert C. Valdillez, Takuhiro Fujiie, Katsuya Hirota, Masaaki Kitaguchi, Hirohiko Shimizu, Takuya Hosobata, Masahiro Takeda, Yutaka Yamagata

Structure factors describe how incident radiation is scattered from materials such as silicon and germanium and characterize the physical interaction between

Achromatic Multi Beam Two Phase Grating Neutron Interferometer

April 21, 2021

Author(s)

Michael G. Huber, Daniel S. Hussey, Muhammad D. Arif, David L. Jacobson, Jacob LaManna, Wakana Ueno, Han Wen, Dmitry Pushin, Dusan Sarenac, David Cory, Houxun Miao, Takenao Shinohara, Joseph Parker

We demonstrate a two phase grating multi beam neutron interferometer by adopting a modified Ronchi setup [1] to a neutron beam in a far-field regime. The

Three Phase-Grating Moire Neutron Interferometer for Large InterferometerArea Applications

April 21, 2021

Author(s)

Michael G. Huber, D. Sarenac, D. A. Pushin, Houxun Miao, Daniel S. Hussey, D G. Cory, Muhammad D. Arif, David L. Jacobson, Jacob LaManna, Ben Heacock

We demonstrate a three phase-grating neutron interferometer as a robust candidate for large area interferometry applications and characterization of materials

Progress on the BL2 beam measurement of the neutron lifetime

April 17, 2021

Author(s)

Shannon M. Hoogerheide, Jimmy P. Caylor, Evan R. Adamek, Eamon S. Anderson, Ripan Biswas, B. E. Crawford, Christina DeAngelis, Maynard S. Dewey, N Fomin, David M. Gilliam, Kyle Grammer, G L. Greene, Robert W. Haun, Jonathan Mulholland, Hans Pieter Mumm, Jeffrey S. Nico, William M. Snow, F E. Wietfeldt, Andrew Yue

A precise value of the neutron lifetime is important in several areas of physics, including determinations of the quark-mixing matrix element |Vud|, related

Tools and Instruments

Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectrometer

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy uses positrons to probe material defects/voids/free volume at the sub-nm scale. The general working principle is

Material Analysis Using Neutron Depth Profiling

Light elements such as helium, lithium, boron, and nitrogen are essential constituents in materials that enable energy technologies; lithium ion batteries