7-order enhancement of the Stern-Gerlach effect of neutrons diffracting in a crystal

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V.V. Voronin, S.Yu. Semenikhin, D.D. Shapiro, Yu.P. Braginets, V.V. Fedorov, V.V. Nesvizhevsky, M. Jentschel, A. Ioffe, Ya.A. Berdnikov

We measured the spatial splitting of a non-polarized neutron beam passed through a crystal under diffraction conditions in heterogeneous magnetic field (analog to the Stern-Gerlach effect) into two polarized components with opposite polarization. The measurements were carried out using Laue diffraction scheme, small gradients of the magnetic field and Bragg angles close to orthogonality θ_B=(78-82)°. After a flight path in crystal of 21.6 cm a splitting of 4.1±0.1 cm was achieved (using a field gradient of ~ 3 G/cm and a diffraction angle of 82°). In the absence of a diffraction (crystal) but otherwise the same flight path and field gradient the spatial splitting would be ~ 4·10^-7 cm. From those we deduce an experimental amplification factor in the order of about ~ 2·10⁵tan²θ_B due to the use of diffraction in crystals, which agrees with theory.

Physics Letters B 809, 135739 (2020)

• https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135739