Design of a neutron polarizer using polarizing super mirrors for the TOF-SANS instrument at the J-PARC

Small-angle neutron scattering technique using polarized neutrons is powerful for studying structures in the range between nm and μm of magnetic materials. In addition, they have been used for the incident beam of focusing-geometry SANS instruments using a magnetic neutron lens, where a high polarization degree of about 99.9% is necessary because the imperfectness of the neutron polarization increases the background level. We are going to install such a magnetic focusing system on the new time-of-flight SANS (TOF-SANS) instrument at the J-PARC so as to make q_min smaller than 10⁻³ Å⁻¹ and improve the resolution of the conventional TOF-SANS at low q. As a polarizing device of the instrument, two V-shaped polarizing super mirrors arranged in crossed geometry to enhance the polarization degree has been considered. In this paper, we present the concept and the detailed design of this device and its performance estimated by Monte Carlo simulations.     

In-situ SEOP polarizer and initial tests on a high flux neutron beam

Polarized ³He has shown its unique characteristics in many areas of polarized neutron scattering, its ability to polarize neutrons at short wavelengths, accept wide-angle and divergent beams and low backgrounds enable new classes of experiments. While polarized ³He is not a steady state solution as commonly applied, the benefits have been shown to offset the drawbacks of polarizing and refreshing the polarization in the neutron spin filter cells. As an extension of this work, in-situ polarization using the spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) method was explored as a means to construct a system which could be used to polarize ³He in the state used for an effective neutron spin filter to constant polarization while on the neutron beam. An in-situ SEOP polarizer was constructed. This device utilized many devices and principles developed for neutron spin filters which are polarized off the beam line using either SEOP or metastability exchange optical pumping (MEOP) under the same research program. As a collimation of this work effects of extremely high neutron capture flux density incident on the in-situ polarizer were explored.     

Optimised adiabatic fast passage spin flipping for He neutron spin filters

We describe here a method of performing adiabatic fast passage (AFP) spin flipping of polarized ³He used as a neutron spin filter (NSF) to polarize neutron beams. By reversing the spin states of the ³He nuclei the polarization of a neutron beam can be efficiently reversed allowing for the transmission of a neutron beam polarized in either spin state. Using an amplitude modulated frequency sweep lasting 500 ms we can spin flip a polarized ³He neutron spin filter with only 1.8×10⁻⁵ loss in ³He polarization. The small magnetic fields (10-15 G) used to house neutron spin filters mean the ³He resonant frequencies are low enough to be generated using a computer with a digital I/O card. The versatility of this systems allows AFP to be performed on any beamline or in any laboratory using ³He neutron spin filters and polarization losses can be minimised by adjusting sweep parameters.     

Stress relaxation in Fe/Si neutron supermirrors by He irradiation

Magnetic supermirrors are widely used in polarized neutron applications. A key issue in producing these multilayer structures is to avoid residual stress in the layers, which may cause the layers to peel off. In this work He⁺ ion irradiation of 500 keV energy was applied at fluences of 1, 24, 50, 100×10¹⁴ ions/cm² with the aim of reducing residual stress. Structural, magnetic and neutron-optical properties were investigated by grazing incidence high-angle X-ray diffraction, magneto-optical Kerr effect, conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy and polarized neutron reflectometry. We find a monotonous decrease of the tensile stress upon irradiation from 1.76 to 0.37 GPa with a coupled decrease of neutron reflectivity at the critical angle and decrease of the maximum polarizing efficiency from 23% to 4% at the highest fluence compared to the as-prepared reference supermirror. The supermirrors exhibit a superposition of uniaxial and fourfold in-plane magnetic anisotropy.     

Neutron reflectometry with vector polarization analysis: First steps

The most detailed and reliable information about the magnetic state (magnetization depth profiles) of layers can be obtained by neutron reflectometry with vector polarization analysis. Two schemes of realization of this technique are considered. Precession coils designed to manipulate the polarization vector of monochromatic beams are used in scheme I. This scheme was tested at the neutron reflectometer NR-4M (PNPI, Gatchina). The earliest experimental data on the polarization vector rotation are reported, giving direct evidence of the wave function phase shift of a massive particle, the neutron, under total reflection. The basic elements for scheme II are remanent supermirrors. This scheme is designed for use with a white beam and is advantageous for pulse neutron sources. The effect of stray fields produced by remanent supermirrors on the neutron polarization has been theoretically and experimentally evaluated; efficient ways of compensating the stray fields are proposed.     

In the wonderland of ultra-parallel neutron beams

Bragg reflections from single crystals yield angular widths of a few arcsec for thermal neutron beams. The Bonse-Hart proposal to attain a sharp, nearly rectangular profile by Bragg reflecting neutrons multiply from a channel-cut single crystal, was realized in its totality three and a half decades later by achieving the corresponding Darwin reflection curves for 5.23 Å neutrons. This facilitated SUSANS (Super USANS) measurements in the Q ～ 10^?5 Å^?1 range. The polarized neutron option was introduced into the SUSANS set-up by separating the up- and down-spin neutron beams by ～10 arcsec with a magnetic (air) prism. The neutron angular width has recently been reduced further by an order of magnitude to ～0.6 arcsec by diffracting 5.3 Å neutrons from a judiciously optimized Bragg prism. This constitutes the most parallel monochromatic neutron beam produced to date. I present the first SUSANS spectra probing the Q ～ 10^?6 Å^?1 domain, recorded with this beam.     

Highlights from the magnetism reflectometer at the SNS

The magnetism reflectometer at the SNS has passed the phase of commissioning and is in operation for users. The high power of the neutron source demands that special attention be paid to the optimization of the background in order to be able to measure the two-dimensional maps of reflected and scattered intensities with polarized neutrons in a broad range of momentum transfer. It implies an effective separation of the magnetic and non-magnetic reflectivity, off-specular scattering and the grazing incidence SANS in a high range of momentum transfer. Therefore the polarizing and the analyzing efficiencies are of particular importance on this time-of-flight instrument. At the beginning of July 2008 the world's first ³He neutron analyzer with on-line pump-up polarization was successfully installed and the tests with a magnetic multilayer film showing a strong off-specular spin-flip scattering were made. The performance of the instrument is under constant improvement in order to make it an effective and optimal instrument for the applications in nanosciences.     

Experimental verification of the applicability of a new method for improving polarizing neutron coatings

A new method for improving polarizing neutron coatings has been verified experimentally. This method is based on the use of Ti interlayers with a negative potential (“antibarrier layers”) at interfacial layers of a polarizing coating for suppressing reflections of neutrons with the undesired spin. It can be expected that the further development of the method will lead to the creation of polarizing neutron supermirrors and multilayer monochromators of a new generation with flipping ratios up to 10³. The neutron optics based on these superpolarizing coatings not only will improve the performance and thus extend the range of applications of polarizing devices but also can be the basis for the design of novel neutron instrumentation.     

Dynamics of polarization buildup by spin filtering

There has been much recent research into polarizing an antiproton beam, instigated by the recent proposal from the PAX (Polarized Antiproton eXperiment) project at GSI Darmstadt. It plans to polarize an antiproton beam by repeated interaction with a polarized internal target in a storage ring. The method of polarization by spin filtering requires many of the beam particles to remain within the ring after scattering off the polarized internal target via electromagnetic and hadronic interactions. We present and solve sets of differential equations which describe the buildup of polarization by spin filtering in many different scenarios of interest to projects planning to produce high-intensity polarized beams. These scenarios are: 1) spin filtering of a fully stored beam; 2) spin filtering while the beam is being accumulated, i.e. unpolarized particles are continuously being fed into the beam; 3) the particle input rate is equal to the rate at which particles are being lost due to scattering beyond the ring acceptance angle, the beam intensity remaining constant; 4) increasing the initial polarization of a stored beam by spin filtering; 5) the input of particles into the beam is stopped after a certain amount of time, but spin filtering continues. The rate of depolarization of a stored polarized beam on passing through an electron cooler is also shown to be negligible.     

Measurement of the neutron beam polarization of BL05/NOP beamline at J-PARC

We measured the neutron beam polarization of the BL05/NOP (Neutron Optics and Physics) beamline at J-PARC with an accuracy of less than 10⁻³ using polarized ³He gas as a neutron spin analyzer. Precise polarimetry of the neutron beam is necessary to understand the beamline optics as well as for the asymmetry measurements of the neutron beta decay, which are planned in this beamline.     

On the Application of Zeeman Spatial Beam Splitting in Polarized Neutron Reflectometry

Zeeman spatial neutron beam splitting is considered upon reflection from a homogeneous magnetic film placed in an external magnetic field applied at an angle to the surface of a sample. Two ways of applying the Zeeman beam-splitting phenomenon in polarized neutron reflectometry are discussed. One of them is the construction of polarizing devices with a high polarization efficiency. The other is investigations of magnetically noncollinear films at a low spin-flip probability of reflected neutrons. The experimental results are presented for illustration.     

Experimente mit dem neutronenspinecho mit langwelligen neutronen aus einem polarisierenden neutronenleiter

We describe an inexpensive method to obtain a highly polarized neutron beam of slow neutrons (λ = 1 – 15 Å) [1]. The high necessary field to saturate the applied soft magnetic material in the surface acting as a polarizing mirror indicates a behaviour of the magnetization in the surface different from that in the bulk material [2]. We also describe the realization of an apparatus proposed by F. Mezei [3], the behaviour of the polarized neutrons in this apparatus, and its use to get a spin echo with a neutron spectrum containing 3 – 9 Å wavelength neutrons. This spin echo is not destroyed by transmission through a nickel sheet, only the number of precessions is increased which appear in a displacement of the echo. This displacement can be used to measure the saturation magnetization of this sheet.     

Program for studying fundamental interactions at the PIK reactor facilities

A research program aimed at studying fundamental interactions by means of ultracold and polarized cold neutrons at the GEK-4-4′ channel of the PIK reactor is presented. The apparatus to be used includes a source of cold neutrons in the heavy-water reflector of the reactor, a source of ultracold neutrons based on superfluid helium and installed in a cold-neutron beam extracted from the GEK-4 channel, and a number of experimental facilities in neutron beams. An experiment devoted to searches for the neutron electric dipole moment and an experiment aimed at a measurement the neutron lifetime with the aid of a large gravitational trap are planned to be performed in a beam of ultracold neutrons. An experiment devoted to measuring neutron-decay asymmetries with the aid of a superconducting solenoid is planned in a beam of cold polarized neutrons from the GEK-4′ channel. The second ultracold-neutron source and an experiment aimed at measuring the neutron lifetime with the aid of a magnetic trap are planned in the neutron-guide system of the GEK-3 channel. In the realms of neutrino physics, an experiment intended for sterile-neutrino searches is designed. The state of affairs around the preparation of the experimental equipment for this program is discussed.     

Generation of radially polarized light beams of high quality using a step-index optical fiber

We present an experimental setup to generate radially polarized beams without using high-cost optical elements. In the setup a four-segment polarization converter is used in front of the fiber to produce a pseudo radially polarized beam. A traditional step-index fiber which supports only LP₀₁ and LP₁₁ modes is then used as a mode-cleaning device. A commercial mechanical fiber-squeezer polarization controller is applied to produce adequate pressure and twist onto the fiber. The four-segment polarization converter and the fiber squeezer polarization controller are adjusted by turns for improving the beam quality in intensity and polarization. Additionally, several methods of characterizing the polarization properties of radially polarized beams are reviewed. One of the latest methods is applied for characterizing the polarization properties of the radially polarized beams produced by using our technique. The results show the highquality of the obtained beams.     

Larmor labeling development

The first applications of polarized neutrons were to distinguish magnetic from nuclear scattering amplitudes. Much later the first set-ups for measuring the precession phase of the polarization passing a magnetic field were realized. This phase, determined by the field strength and interaction time, could label magnetic fields, wavelength of the neutrons and length over which the field is present. The latter could be used by proper shaping of the magnetic field to label also the direction of transmitted neutrons. The advantage of this labeling is that high precision measurements are possible without strong confinement of the beam by diaphragms. An overview of the use of Larmor labeling of polarized neutrons is given for applications in magnetism, in inelastic neutron scattering and small angle scattering.     

The influence of field size and off-axis distance on photoneutron spectra of the 18 MV Siemens Oncor linear accelerator beam

At present, high energy electron linear accelerators (LINACs) producing photons with energies higher than 10 MeV have a wide use in radiotherapy (RT). However, in these beams fast neutrons could be generated, which results in undesired contamination of the therapeutic beams. These neutrons affect the shielding requirements in RT rooms and also increase the out-of-field radiation dose to patients. The neutron flux becomes even more important when high numbers of monitor units are used, as in the intensity modulated radiotherapy. Herein, to evaluate the exposure of patients and medical personnel, it is important to determine the full radiation field correctly. A model of the dual photon beam medical LINAC, Siemens ONCOR, used at the University Hospital Centre of Osijek was built using the MCNP611 code. We tuned the model according to measured photon percentage depth dose curves and profiles. Only 18 MV photon beams were modeled. The dependence of neutron dose equivalent and energy spectrum on field size and off-axis distance in the patient plane was analyzed. The neutron source strength (Q) defined as a number of neutrons coming from the head of the treatment unit per x-ray dose (Gy) delivered at the isocenter was calculated and found to be 1.12 × 10¹² neutrons per photon Gy at isocenter. The simulation showed that the neutron flux increases with increasing field size but field size has almost no effect on the shape of neutron dose profiles. The calculated neutron dose equivalent of different field sizes was between 1 and 3 mSv per photon Gy at isocenter. The mean energy changed from 0.21 MeV to 0.63 MeV with collimator opening from 0 × 0 cm² to 40 × 40 cm². At the 50 cm off-axis the change was less pronounced. According to the results, it is reasonable to conclude that the neutron dose equivalent to the patient is proportional to the photon beam-on time as suggested before. Since the beam-on time is much higher when advanced radiotherapy techniques are used to fulfill high conformity demands, this makes the neutron flux determination even more important. We also showed that the neutron energy in the patient plane significantly changes with field size. This can introduce significant uncertainty in dosimetry of neutrons due to strong dependence of the neutron detector response on the neutron energy in the interval 0.1–5 MeV.     

Small-angle neutron scattering study of dynamically polarized polyethylenes

We carried out a small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) study of dynamically polarized polyethylene (PE) samples doped with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (TEMPO). The transmission of the PE with almost fully polarized neutrons (98.5%) increased with increasing the proton polarization, P. The incoherent scattering cross section decreased with increasing P. The effect of P on the polarized neutrons’ transmission and the incoherent scattering cross section agreed well with the theory. The q-dependence of the coherent scattering, which reflects a two-phase structure of PE composed of crystalline and amorphous domains, was kept unchanged by the proton polarization, but the intensity increased by a factor of 3 and 6 for P=+23% and −23%, respectively. The results mean that the contrast between the two phases was successfully enhanced by a dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) technique. However, the enhancement is only 1/13–1/16 of the enhancement calculated by assuming a homogeneous polarization through the PE sample. The discrepancy suggests that P in amorphous domains (25%) should be higher than that in crystalline domains (22%) by 3%, which in turn may suggest the partial depolarization of proton spins on the way of the spin diffusion from amorphous domains, where TEMPO radicals localize, to crystalline domains.     

Generation of multi-color stimulated raman emission from two-color linearly or circularly polarized pump beams

A laser beam at two different frequencies separated by 587 cm^–1 is focused into pressurized hydrogen (rotational transition energy, 587 cm^–1) to generate multi-color stimulated Raman emission. The polarization state and the pulse energy are measured for each generated emission line using linearly and circularly polarized pump beams. The effect of the polarization is discussed by using a parameter characterizing the polarizability of hydrogen and a conservation rule for the angular momentum in four-wave mixing. Many rotational lines are generated with linearly polarized pump beams through a four-wave mixing process. This is in striking contrast to the results obtained by using a single-color circularly polarized pump beam which generates only one rotational line through a conventional stimulated Raman process.