Calculations of Neutron Reflectivity in the eV Energy Range from Mirrors made of Heavy Nuclei with Neutron-Nucleus Resonances

TL;DR

This paper evaluates neutron reflectivity of heavy nuclei mirrors with neutron-nucleus resonances in the eV range, highlighting potential applications in non-destructive testing and neutron optics.

Contribution

It provides calculations demonstrating the potential for high reflectivity near neutron-nucleus resonances in heavy nuclei, expanding neutron optics capabilities.

Findings

Certain heavy nuclei can achieve high neutron reflectivity near resonance energies.

Reflectivity can be significant enough for practical applications in neutron optics.

Potential for non-destructive subsurface material analysis using neutron mirrors.

Abstract

We evaluate the reflectivity of neutron mirrors composed of certain heavy nuclei which possess strong neutron-nucleus resonances in the eV energy range. We show that the reflectivity of such a mirror for some nuclei can in principle be high enough near energies corresponding to compound neutron-nucleus resonances to be of interest for certain scientific applications in non-destructive evaluation of subsurface material composition and in the theory of neutron optics beyond the kinematic limit.