Neutron scattering lengths of molten metals determined by gravity refractometry

Very accurate values of the coherent neutron scattering lengths of the heavy elements Bi and Pb are important quantities for the investigation of the electric interactions of neutrons with atoms. We performed, therefore, a series of experiments to determine accurate scattering lengths by means of neutron gravity refractometry on liquid mirrors of molten metals. The possible perturbations of the necessary reflection measurements have been discussed in details. After taking into account the uncertainties and corrections associated with observable pertubations we obtained the following values for bound atoms:b(Bi)=8.532±0.002 fm,b(Pb)=9.405±0.003 fm,b(Tl)=8.776±0.005 fm,b(Sn)=6.225±0.002 fm andb(Ga)=7.288±0.002 fm. These data are corrected for the local field effect occuring in the reflection on liquids. The recently reported results for the neutron's electric polarizability and the neutron-electron scattering length are supported by the Bi- and Pb-scattering length of this work.