A novel neutron spin resonance technique is presented based on the well-know neutron spin echo method. In a first proof-of-principle measurement using a monochromatic neutron beam, it is demonstrated that relative velocity changes of down to a precision of 4×10−7 can be resolved, corresponding to an energy resolution of better than 3~neV. Currently, the sensitivity is only limited by counting statistics and not by systematic effects. An improvement by another two orders of magnitude can be achieved with a dedicated setup, allowing for energy resolutions in the 10~peV regime. The new technique is ideally suited for investigations in the field of precision fundamental neutron physics, but will also be beneficial in scattering applications.
@article{arxiv.1603.06741,
title = {Neutron phase spin echo},
author = {Florian M. Piegsa and Patrick Hautle and Christian Schanzer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.06741},
year = {2016}
}