A Possible Neutron-Antineutron Oscillation Experiment at PF1B at the Institut Laue Langevin

We consider a possible neutron–antineutron (n−n¯) oscillation experiment at the PF1B instrument at Institut Laue Langevin. It can improve the best existing constraint on the transition rate and also allow the testing of the methods and instrumentation which would be needed for a later larger-scale experiment at ESS. The main gain factors over the most competitive experiment, performed earlier at PF1 instrument at ILL, are: a more intense neutron beam and a new operating mode based on coherent n and n¯ mirror reflections. The installation of such an experiment would need a temporary replacement of the existing ballistic neutron guide by a specially designed n/n¯ guide with a gradually increasing cross section and a specially selected coating as well as the development and construction of an advanced n¯ annihilation detector with a high efficiency and low background. The overall gain factor could reach up to an order of magnitude and depends on the chosen experiment configuration.

Achromatic Non-Interferometric Single Grating Neutron Dark-Field Imaging

We demonstrate a simple single grating beam modulation technique, which enables the use of a highly intense neutron beam for differential phase and dark-field contrast imaging and thus spatially resolved structural correlation measurements in full analogy to interferometric methods. In contrast to these interferometric approaches our method is intrinsically achromatic and provides unprecedented flexibility in the choice of experimental parameters. In particular the method enables straight forward application of quantitative dark-field contrast imaging in time-of-flight mode at pulsed neutron sources. Utilizing merely a macroscopic absorption mask unparalleled length scales become accessible. We present results of quantitative dark-field contrast imaging combining microstructural small angle scattering analyses with real space imaging for a variety of materials.