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Neutron interferometry

DEC 01, 1980
Coherent beams of neutrons, split and recombined by Bragg diffraction in a perfect single crystal of silicon, demonstrate effects on the phase of the wavefunction due to gravity and other phenomena.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2913855

Samuel A. Werner

Diffraction effects at wavelengths on the order of angstroms have been known since Max von Laue’s demonstrations of x‐ray diffraction in 1912. Interference between well‐separated, coherent beams, however, is much more difficult to arrange.

References

  1. 1. H. Rauch, W. Treimer, U. Bonse, Phys. Lett. 47A, 425 (1974).

  2. 2. See, for example, U. Bonse, W. Graeff, in X‐Ray Optics, Topics in Applied Physics Vol. 22, H.‐J. Queisser, ed., Springer, Berlin (1977).

  3. 3. H. Kaiser, H. Rauch, G. Badurek, W. Bauspiess, U. Bonse, Z. Physik A291, 231 (1979).

  4. 4. J.‐L. Staudenmann, S. A. Werner, R. Colella, A. W. Overhauser, Phys. Rev. A21, 1419 (1980).

  5. 5. D. M. Greenberger, A. W. Overhauser, Rev. Mod. Phys. 51, 43 (1979).

  6. 6. L. A. Page, Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 543 (1975).https://doi.org/PRLTAO

  7. 7. M. Dresden, C. N. Yang, Phys. Rev. D20, 1846 (1979).

  8. 8. For general recent discussion of interference, gravity and gauge fields see, J. Anandan, Nuovo Cimento 53A, 221 (1979).

  9. 9. H. J. Bernstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 18, 1102 (1967).https://doi.org/PRLTAO

  10. 10. S. A. Werner, R. Colella, A. W. Overhauser, C. Eagen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 1053 (1975). https://doi.org/PRLTAO
    H. Rauch, A. Zeilinger, G. Badurek, A. Wilting, W. Bauspiess, U. Bonse, Phys. Lett. 54A, 425 (1975).

  11. 11. A. G. Klein, G. I. Opat, Phys. Rev. Lett. 37, 238 (1976).https://doi.org/PRLTAO

  12. 12. C. G. Shull, D. K. Atwood, J. Arthur, M. A. Horne, Phys. Rev. Lett. 44, 765 (1980). https://doi.org/PRLTAO
    R. Gahler, A. G. Klein, A. Zeilinger, submitted to Phys. Rev. A (1980).

  13. 13. Neutron Interferometry, Proceedings of an International Workshop at Institut Laue‐Langevin, Grenoble, France, U. Bonse, H. Rauch, eds., Oxford U.P. (1979).

More about the Authors

Samuel A. Werner. University of Missouri, Columbia campus.

This Content Appeared In
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Volume 33, Number 12

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