Characterization of mica crystals as reflectors for an ultracold neutron doppler converter

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Abstract

Natural mica crystals have been characterized for use as reflectors for an ultracold neutron source using Bragg scattering of cold (400 m/s) neutrons from a moving mica reflector, recently installed at the Los Alamos neutron science center (LANSCE). In particular, the trioctahedral Mg-rich mica phlogopite has been obtained in large sheets. The structure factor for the first-order Bragg reflection is a factor of four larger than for muscovite, the first variety of mica examined. The observed peak reflectivity for a phlogopite of 0.25 mm thickness is about 8.2% at 1.9 Å, with a mosaic spread of about 0.3° FWHM, in good agreement with the ideally imperfect crystal model. This can be extrapolated to a reflectivity of about 63% at the 17.4 Å operating wavelength of the ultracold neutron source. Improvements are possible by obtaining Fe-rich mica, which should be almost as effective as the alternative approach of using synthetic perfluorinated mica.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)110-112
Number of pages3
JournalPhysica B: Physics of Condensed Matter
Volume241-243
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Mica
  • Muscovite
  • Phlogopite
  • Ultracold neutrons

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