The interaction of Ultra-Cold Neutrons (UCN) with liquid helium and a superthermal UCN source

We discuss the interaction of Ultra-Cold and Cold Neutrons with superfluid ⁴He and show that this interaction has all the characteristics which are necessary for the achievement of extremely high densities of UCN.     

Scattering of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) by superfluid helium at temperatures around 1 K

We report the first observation of the upscattering of UCN stored in a closed vessel filled with ⁴He. The observations allow the direct determination of the production rate and hence the density of the UCN stored in the helium, which are found to be in agreement with theoretical expectations. the technique offers the possibility of studying the interactions between excitations in the liquid at regions of temperature and wavelength inaccessible to presently available methods.     

UCN production in superfluid helium

Ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) are produced in superfluid helium by single- and multi-phonon excitation. The UCN production rate density R _II via multiphonons can be larger than that by one-phonon excitation R _I being due to the dependence of the incident neutron spectral flux density dφ/dλ on the wavelength λ. Received: 28 March 2002 / Accepted: 19 December 2002 / Published online: 11 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: wschott@e18.physik.tu-muenchen.de RID="b" ID="b"On leave of absence from PNPI, Gatchina, Russia Communicated by T. Walcher     

Neutron lifetime measurement with the UCN trap-in-trap MAMBO II

We have measured the free neutron lifetime τn${\tau }_n$ by storage of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) in a Fomblin coated UCN trap of in situ variable size. The method was initially developed by W. Mampe et al. (1989) [10] with MAMBO I and improved by the addition of a prestorage volume yielding a well defined UCN spectrum for storage in the main trap. By extrapolation to infinite trap size using the time scaling method we obtain for the free neutron lifetime τn=(880.7±1.3±1.2) s${\tau }_n=(880.7\pm 1.3\pm 1.2)\text{s}$. Data from different UCN spectra, trap temperatures and storage times were used for the evaluation. The present result is compared with other experimental neutron lifetime data.     

Reduction of surface hydrogen on ultra cold neutron container materials by ion bombardement

The hydrogen concentration near to the surface of some typical ultra cold neutron container materials has been measured with theH(¹¹ B, ) 2 reaction. The concentration of 2 – 3 × 10¹⁶ H atoms/cm² is in agreement with results obtained by other methods. Using theoretical neutron scattering cross sections we confirm that at room temperature the experimentally known high UCN reflection loss rate could be caused by the measured concentration of hydrogen. The original hydrogen content has been reduced by ion bombardment to about one tenth of its original value. The redeposition of hydrogen has been studied as a function of the residual pressure. We conclude that it is possible to produce by sputtering container surfaces with hydrogen (and other surface impurity) contents sufficiently low and stable to test directly with UCN whether their losses are mainly due to upscattering on impurities or not.     

Interaction of neutrons with nanoparticles

Two hypotheses concerning the interaction of neutrons with nanoparticles and having applications in the physics of ultracold neutrons (UCN) are considered. In 1997, it was found that, upon reflection from the sample surface or spectrometer walls, UCN change their energy by about 10^?7 eV with a probability of 10^?7–10^?5 per collision. The nature of this phenomenon is not clear at present. Probably, it is due to the inelastic coherent scattering of UCN on nanoparticles or nanostructures weakly attached at the surface, in a state of Brownian thermal motion. An analysis of experimental data on the basis of this model allows one to estimate the mass of such nanoparticles and nanostructures at 10⁷ a.u. The proposed hypothesis indicates a method for studying the dynamics of nanoparticles and nanostructures and, accordingly, their interactions with the surface or with one another, this method being selective in their sizes. In all experiments with UCN, the trap-wall temperature was much higher than a temperature of about 1 mK, which corresponds to the UCN energy. Therefore, UCN increased their energy. The surface density of weakly attached nanoparticles was low. If, however, the nanoparticle temperature is lower than the neutron temperature and if the nanoparticle density is high, the problem of interaction of neutrons with nanoparticles is inverted. In this case, the neutrons of initial velocity below 10² m/s can cool down, under certain conditions, owing to their scattering on ultracold heavy-water, deuterium, and oxygen nanoparticles to their temperature of about 1 mK, with the result that the UCN density increases by many orders of magnitude.     

New type of low temperature source of Ultra-cold neutrons and production of continous beams of UCN

We discuss a new type of source for Ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) in which the UCN are produced in a thin film on the walls of a cryogenic container. The UCN build up to a significant density inside the container, and the build-up time can be adjusted without effecting the UCN density. Applications to the production of intense, continous beams of UCN for scattering experiments are emphasized. The new source is well suited for installation inside the moderator of an intense neutron source.     

Search for low-energy upscattering of ultracold neutrons from a beryllium surface

We present results of a search for anomalous low-energy upscattering of ultracold neutrons from a beryllium surface. This upscattering is considered one for the possible reasons for UCN “disappearance” from very cold beryllium bottles, as observed in experiments. The indium foil activation method was used to measure a very low intensity flux of upscattered UCN. The (15–300) m/s velocity range of upscattered UCN is ruled out by these measurements at a confidence level of 90%. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 141–148 (January 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Reproduced here with stylistic changes by the Translation Editor.     

Experimental study of quasi-elastic scattering of ultracold neutrons

Ultracold neutrons (UCN) are lost from traps if they are quasi-elastically scattered from the wall with an energy gain sufficient to exceed the Fermi potential for the wall. Possible mechanisms of a quasi-elastic energy transfer are, for instance, scattering from hydrogen diffusing in an impurity surface layer or on surface waves at a liquid wall. Using two different experimental methods at the UCN source of the Institut Laue-Langevin we have investigated both the energy-gain and the energy-loss side of quasi-elastic UCN scattering on Fomblin grease coated walls. For Fomblin oil and similar new types of oil we report up-scattering data as a function of temperature and energy transfer. These low-temperature oils may be used in an improved measurement of the neutron lifetime, which requires extremely low wall reflection losses. Received 13 March 2002 Published online 31 July 2002     

Wave propagation in low-loss acrylic resin films

Acrylic resin is presented as a well suited material for waveguides. The losses due to scattering and absorption in the film are less than 0.13 dB cm^?1. The mode-structure has been investigated as a function of the angle of incidence and the film thickness, both by experiment and numerical calculation. It is demonstrated that acrylic resin is an appropriate material for forming integrated optical components for beam refraction, reflection and splitting.     

Anomalous lateral beam shift and total absorption due to excitation of surface waves in materials with negative refraction

We studied electromagnetic beam reflection from layered structures that include materials with negative refraction. Excitation of leaky surface waves leads to the formation of anomalous lateral shifts in the reflected beams with single or double peak structures. The presence of reasonable losses within material with negative refraction, besides significant influence on manifestation of the giant lateral shifts, can lead to their total suppression and anomalously high absorption of the incident radiation. If, in addition to the resonant excitation of leaky surface waves, radiation inflow exactly compensates their irreversible damping, total absorption of the incoming radiation can be achieved for moderately wide beams.     

Storage of ultracold neutrons in vessels whose walls are made from graphite,fluorine polymer oil,or heavy-water ice

The possibility of attaining the calculated probabilities of the losses of ultracold neutrons (UCN) stored in vessels whose walls are made from graphite, fluorine polymer oil, or heavy-water ice is tested experimentally. It is found that UCN hitting the walls of a graphite vessel undergo additional inelastic scattering not predicted by the theory. It is shown that this scattering may be due to the presence of surface hydrogen that provides a channel of UCN leakage slightly varying with temperature. For vessels whose walls are coated with fluorine polymer oil, additional inelastic UCN scattering is also observed and is found to be efficiently suppressed with decreasing temperature. The experimentally observed and calculated values of the probabilities of UCN losses are shown to be in good agreement for vessels whose walls are made from heavy-water ice.     

Resonance fluctuation-electromagnetic energy losses during the glancing reflection of a neutral atomic beam from the smooth amorphous surface of a solid

The energy losses of a Cs⁺ion beam are theoretically studied during its glancing reflection from a smooth amorphous surface of a dielectric or a semiconductor and films made of these materials on a metallic substrate. The conditions of resonance fluctuation-electromagnetic interaction between neutralized Cs atoms and surface polaritons are considered for surfaces where the effects of interest seem to be the most significant. Calculations indicate that, at the optimized initial glancing angle and the Cs⁺ ion beam energy (ψ_in = 0.1–1.0 mrad, E ₀ ～ 50–100 keV), the fluctuation-electromagnetic forces substantially contribute to the total energy losses and this contribution has characteristic dependences on the temperature, particle velocity, and material parameters.     

Search for anomalous transmission of ultracold neutrons through metal foils

Results are presented on the search for anomalous transmission of ultracold neutrons (UCNs) through beryllium (thickness ∼0.14 mm), stainless steel (0.05 and 0.015 mm), and copper (0.01 and 0.018 mm) foils. This anomalous transmission is considered to be a possible reason for the disappearance of UCNs from beryllium bottles, an effect which was discovered in experiments at the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute and which was recently observed in the experiment of V. E. Varlamov et al., JETP Lett. 66, 336 (1997). No transmission was found in our measurements at the 10⁻⁷ level except in the case of copper foils, which we attribute to the presence in the UCN flux of an admixture of neutrons with energies higher than the boundary energy for copper. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 7, 440–444 (10 April 1998) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Program of Fundamental-Interaction Research for the Ultracold-Neutron Source at the the WWR-M Reactor

The use of ultracold neutrons opens unique possibilities for studying fundamental interactions in particles physics. Searches for the neutron electric dipole moment are aimed at testing models of CP violation. A precise measurement of the neutron lifetime is of paramount importance for cosmology and astrophysics. Considerable advances in these realms can be made with the aid of a new ultracold-neutron (UCN) supersource presently under construction at Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute. With this source, it would be possible to obtain an UCN density approximately 100 times as high as that at currently the best UCN source at the high-flux reactor of the Institute Laue–Langevin (ILL, Grenoble, France). To date, the design and basic elements of the source have been prepared, tests of a full-scale source model have been performed, and the research program has been developed. It is planned to improve accuracy in measuring the neutron electric dipole moment by one order of magnitude to a level of 10^?27 to 10^?28e cm. This is of crucial importance for particle physics. The accuracy in measuring the neutron lifetime can also be improved by one order of magnitude. Finally, experiments that would seek neutron–antineutron oscillations by employing ultracold neutrons will become possible upon reaching an UCN density of 10³ to 10⁴ cm^?3. The current status of the source and the proposed research program are discussed.     

Neutron velocity distribution from a superthermal solid 2H2 ultracold neutron source

We have determined for the first time the velocity distribution of neutrons from a solid ²H₂ ultracold neutron (UCN) source. The spectrum rises sharply above 4.5m/s and has a maximum around 7m/s after transport in an 8m long guide. The number of neutrons in the UCN velocity range (< 7m/s) may be increased by a factor of two by placing the experiment 1m above the UCN source level.     

Comparison of polystyrene IR spectra obtained by the T,R, ATR,and DR methods

The results of measuring the spectra of polystyrene samples in the IR range (4000–400 cm^–1) obtained by transmission, specular reflection, frustrated total internal reflection, and diffuse reflection have been compared. Polystyrene samples in the form of a thin film, a bulk sample, and foamed polystyrene have been investigated. The frequencies of the strongest bands in the spectra obtained by the methods under comparison are shown to depend on the anomalous dispersion in the vicinity of these bands and the specific features of structural chemical composition of the polystyrene–air interfaces. The presence of these interfaces is most pronounced in the reflection methods.     

Ultra cold neutron life times in glow discharge cleaned bottles

Life times of ultra cold neutrons in tubes made of various materials have been increased with improvement of surface cleanliness. With glow discharge cleaning in vacua of only 10^–4–10^–3 torr, life times for long storage periods were obtained that differ by less than a factor of 2 from calculated values in the case of stainless steel and aluminium and by a factor of 3 for quartz. Surface recontamination is slow at the achieved level and approaches a stable value well below that before cleaning. A temperature dependence of ultra cold neutron reflection loss rates was observed. A direct correlation between reflection losses and the surface hydrogen concentration was established. We conclude that for smooth surfaces of materials with low reaction cross section, losses are mainly caused by upscattering on tightly bound hydrogen. The probability is discussed that the remaining losses are due to still incomplete cleanliness of the surface caused by hydrogen recontamination from the bulk and the atmosphere.     

Nuclear moments as a probe of electronic structure in material, exotic nuclear structure and fundamental symmetry

We report our studies in various fields of Physics through nuclear moments utilizing the β-NMR technique, including material sciences, nuclear structures and fundamental symmetries. Especially, we focus on the recent progress in the studies on the electronic structure in Pt through Knight shifts of various impurities, lattice locations of impurities, electric field gradients, the analysis of nuclear spin in terms of its components, anomaly in the spin expectation value for ⁹C-⁹Li mirror pair, the G-parity conservation law, and the Ramsey resonance on UCN for future neutron EDM measurements.     

Fundamental analysis of defects induced by energetic ions implantation in AgCl

The effects of the energetic ions implantation in AgCl can be related to two types of perturbation due to: the electronic energy losses observed, essentially with H⁺ (2 MeV) implantation and the collision energy losses illustrated in K⁺ (0.5 MeV) implantation.

The ionization influence is essentially the sensibilization of AgCl (print-out) at RT and at LNT. We discuss the the photolysis mechanism regarding the one postulated under action of light.

The defects related to collision losses are characterized by a new optical absorption band with a characteristic length independent of the implanted ion (Na⁺ and K⁺). The nature of those defects are analysed by thermal and optical bleaching and by EPR. Those collision effects do not contribute to the print-out phenomena.