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Intrinsic Orbital Angular Momentum States of Neutrons

Published

Author(s)

Ronald L. Cappelletti, Terrence J Jach, John T. Vinson

Abstract

A recent neutron interferometry experiment attempted to observe the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of neutron de Broglie waves of neutron de Broglie waves using a spiral phase (SPP) (Nature 525, 504 (2015) [1]). Based upon conventional neutron optical ideas, we provide an alternative explanation of the two-dimensional interference patterns observed. Since the transverse coherence length of the neutrons in the NIST interferometer is a very small fraction of the transverse dimension of the SPP used, we show that neutron wave packets passing through the SPP acquire a vanishingly small intrinsic OAM. Given the small transverse coherence of the incident neutrons, we show that the LLL perfect silicon crystal neutron interferometer actually consists of a very large number of independent, incoherently superposed interferometers. Simple phase contrast explains the observed interference patterns.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
120
Issue
9

Keywords

neutron, orbital angular momentum, interferometer

Citation

, R. , , T. and Vinson, J. (2018), Intrinsic Orbital Angular Momentum States of Neutrons, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.090402 (Accessed December 2, 2024)

Issues

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Created March 2, 2018, Updated November 10, 2018