Abstract
We report a measurement of the spin-flip probabilities for ultracold neutrons interacting with surfaces coated with nickel phosphorus. For 50 μm thick nickel phosphorus coated on stainless steel, the spin-flip probability per bounce was found to be βNiPonSS=(3.3-5.6+1.8)×10-6. For 50 μm thick nickel phosphorus coated on aluminum, the spin-flip probability per bounce was found to be βNiPonAl=(3.6-5.9+2.1)×10-6. For the copper guide used as reference, the spin flip probability per bounce was found to be βCu=(6.7-2.5+5.0)×10-6. The results on the nickel phosphorus-coated surfaces may be interpreted as upper limits, yielding βNiPonSS<6.2×10-6 (90% C.L.) and βNiPonAl<7.0×10-6 (90% C.L.) for 50 μm thick nickel phosphorus coated on stainless steel and 50 μm thick nickel phosphorus coated on aluminum, respectively. Nickel phosphorus coated stainless steel or aluminum provides a solution when low-cost, mechanically robust, and non-depolarizing UCN guides with a high Fermi potential are needed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 32-38 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment |
| Volume | 827 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 11 2016 |
Funding
This work was supported by Los Alamos National Laboratory LDRD Program (Project No. 20140015DR ). We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the LANL Physics and AOT Divisions .
Keywords
- Nickel phosphorus
- Spin depolarization
- Ultracold neutron
- Ultracold neutron guide