Stern-Gerlach effect without magnetic-field gradient

The Stern-Gerlach effect is the well-known spin-dependent splitting of a neutral particle beam by a magnetic-field gradient. Guided by the pseudomagnetic analogy, we performed a similar experiment where no magnetic-field gradient is involved. The effect is due to the spin-dependence of neutron scatt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Europhysics letters 2001-01, Vol.53 (2), p.183-189
Main Authors: Zimmer, O, Felber, J, Schärpf, O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
25.40.Dn
28.20.Cz
61.12.Ex
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Elastic neutron scattering
Exact sciences and technology
Neutron diffraction and scattering
Neutron physics
Neutron scattering
Neutron scattering techniques (including small-angle scattering)
Nuclear engineering and nuclear power studies
Nuclear physics
Nuclear reactions: specific reactions
Nucleon-induced reactions
Physics
Structure of solids and liquids
crystallography
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Summary:The Stern-Gerlach effect is the well-known spin-dependent splitting of a neutral particle beam by a magnetic-field gradient. Guided by the pseudomagnetic analogy, we performed a similar experiment where no magnetic-field gradient is involved. The effect is due to the spin-dependence of neutron scattering from polarised nuclei, i.e. caused by the strong interaction between neutrons and nuclei. The beam splitting is proportional to the nuclear polarisation and to the spin-dependent part of the neutron scattering length. Thus it can be used to measure one of both quantities.
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854
DOI:10.1209/epl/i2001-00134-y