Neutrons on a surface of liquid helium

P. D. Grigoriev, O. Zimmer, A. D. Grigoriev, and T. Ziman
Phys. Rev. C 94, 025504 – Published 22 August 2016

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of ultracold neutron (UCN) storage in quantum states defined by the combined potentials of the Earth's gravity and the neutron optical repulsion by a horizontal surface of liquid helium. We analyze the stability of the lowest quantum state, which is most susceptible to perturbations due to surface excitations, against scattering by helium atoms in the vapor and by excitations of the liquid, comprised of ripplons, phonons, and surfons. This is an unusual scattering problem since the kinetic energy of the neutron parallel to the surface may be much greater than the binding energies perpendicular. The total scattering time of these UCNs at 0.7 K is found to exceed 1 h, and rapidly increases with decreasing temperature. Such low scattering rates should enable high-precision measurements of the sequence of discrete energy levels, thus providing improved tests of short-range gravity. The system might also be useful for neutron β-decay experiments. We also sketch new experimental propositions for level population and trapping of ultracold neutrons above a flat horizontal mirror.

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  • Received 1 October 2015
  • Revised 8 March 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.94.025504

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear PhysicsParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

P. D. Grigoriev*

  • L. D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Chernogolovka, Moscow region, 142432, Russia

O. Zimmer

  • Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

A. D. Grigoriev

  • Samara State University, Samara RU-443011, Russia

T. Ziman

  • Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France and LPMMC (UMR 5493), CNRS and Université Grenoble Alpes, BP 166, F-38042 Grenoble, France

  • *grigorev@itp.ac.ru
  • zimmer@ill.fr

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Vol. 94, Iss. 2 — August 2016

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