Enhanced directional extraction of very cold neutrons using a diamond nanoparticle powder reflector.

For more than a decade, detonation nanodiamond (DND) powders have been actively studied as a material for efficient reflectors of very cold neutrons (VCNs) and cold neutrons. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, the possibility of enhanced directional extraction of a VCN beam using a reflector made of fluorinated DND powder. With respect to the theoretical flux calculated from an isotropic source at the bottom of the reflector cavity, the gain in the VCN flux density along the beam axis is ∼10 for the neutron velocities of ∼57 and ∼75 m/s. The use of such reflectors for enhanced directional extraction of VCN from neutron sources will make it possible to noticeably increase the neutron fluxes delivered to experiments and expand the scope of VCN applications.

SuperADAM: upgraded polarized neutron reflectometer at the Institut Laue-Langevin.

A new neutron reflectometer SuperADAM has recently been built and commissioned at the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France. It replaces the previous neutron reflectometer ADAM. The new instrument uses a solid state polarizer/wavelength filter providing a highly polarized (up to 98.6%) monochromatic neutron flux of 8 × 10(4) n cm(-2) s(-1) with monochromatization Δλ∕λ = 0.7% and angular divergence Δα = 0.2 mrad. The instrument includes both single and position sensitive detectors. The position sensitive detector allows simultaneous measurement of specular reflection and off-specular scattering. Polarization analysis for both specular reflection and off-specular scattering is achieved using either mirror analyzers or a (3)He spin filter cell. High efficiency detectors, low background, and high flux provides a dynamic range of up to seven decades in reflectivity. Detailed specifications and the instrument capabilities are illustrated with examples of recently collected data in the fields of thin film magnetism and thin polymer films.

Fine-tuning of the spin-density-wave state in Cr/V heterostructures via hydrogen uptake.

We show that the magnetic state in rather thick Cr films can be finely tuned via hydrogen uptake into adjacent vanadium layers at rather low hydrogen pressures. By changing the hydrogen concentration and, hence, the electronic structure in the V layers, it is possible to affect the global properties of spin-density waves (SDWs) in Cr layers, including the SDW period and the Néel temperature. We provide direct experimental evidence that hydrogen uptake into V layers can be used to switch between incommensurate and commensurate SDW states in a reproducible way.