2020 Kellogg Seminars

Title: Structured neutron waves

Abstract: The neutron, one of the most common building blocks of matter, is also a unique probe for studying materials and fundamental interactions. The only electrically-neutral nucleus, the neutron passes through most materials with ease. Neutrons are particularly powerful at characterizing magnetic structures. In order to extend the applications of neutron physics as a quantum probes/sensors we have developed methods based on Quantum Information Processing for preparing structured waves such as orbital and spin-orbit states of neutrons. Such states may be prepared for the beam as a whole, or with reference to the coherence length of the neutron wavepacket, which is much smaller than the width of useful beams. I will show how we can control wave packet momentum distribution by various phase gratings and will describe experiments to prepare and characterize neutron beams with specific orbital and spin-orbit structure based on neutron interferometry. I will alsol show how we can apply these methods to other type of probes such as light.