Nuclear physics

News and Updates

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

JILA’s Novel Atomic Clock Design Offers ‘Tweezer’ Control

September 12, 2019

JILA physicists have demonstrated a novel atomic clock design that combines near-continuous operation with strong signals and high stability, features not

Events

19th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD19)

Mon, Jul 19 - Thu, Jul 29 2021

The 19th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD19) is an opportunity for researchers from around the

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

Achromatic Multi Beam Two Phase Grating Neutron Interferometer

April 21, 2021

Author(s)

Michael G. Huber, Daniel Hussey, Muhammad D. Arif, David 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 Hussey, D G. Cory, Muhammad D. Arif, David 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 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

Neutron Spin Rotation Measurements

April 15, 2021

Author(s)

Jeffrey S. Nico, Shannon M. Hoogerheide, Hans Mumm, Murad Sarsour, J Amadio, Eamon Anderson, Libertad Barron-Palos, Bret Crawford, Chris Crawford, D. Esposito, Walter Fox, I Francis, J Fry, Chris Haddock, Adam Holley, Kirill Korsak, J Lieers, S Magers, M. Maldonado-Velazquez, D Mayorov, T Okudaira, C Paudel, S Santra, H.M. Shimizu, William M. Snow, A. Sprow, K. Steen, H E. Swanson, John Vanderwerp, P. A. Yergeau

The neutron spin rotation (NSR) collaboration used parity-violating spin rotation of transversely polarized neutrons transmitted through a 0.5 m liquid helium

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