Pendellösung length-scale neutron and X-ray interferometry

Abstract

Neutron and X-ray perfect-crystal interferometers (PCIs) are powerful platforms for studies of fundamental physics and phase-contrast imaging. Further enhancing several PCI capabilities requires reducing crystal blade thickness to the micron scale, which minimizes dynamical-diffraction image blur, permits operation in the pendellösung regime where blade thickness controls beam splitting, and reduces absorption for simultaneous neutron and X-ray operation. However, fabricating multiple crystal blades with identical micrometer-scale thicknesses over centimeter-scale areas remains a major challenge. Here, using a non-etching sub-micron fabrication technique, we demonstrate silicon triple-Laue interferometers with equal-blade-thicknesses of 110 μm and 350 μm, operated with both neutrons and X-rays. These devices are the thinnest PCIs realized to date, enabling a factor-of-six reduction in dynamical-diffraction beam spreading for improved phase-contrast imaging, while reaching the single pendellösung length regime in which crystal thickness provides an experimentally accessible control parameter for engineered quantum-optical beam splitting of plane-wave inputs. These results motivate multi-blade PCI designs utilizing identical half-pendellösung crystal lamellae that are proposed for neutron spin--orbit and electric dipole moment measurements.

Decoupling Strain-Rate Sensitivity and Deformation Length Scale Effects in Neutron-Irradiated Tungsten: A Coupled Nano-Indentation, HR-EBSD and Crystal Plasticity Study
Prashil S. Joshi, Bethany Jim, Chris Hardie +3
arXiv5 Nov 2026PreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv
New Method for Path-length Equalization of Long Single-mode Fibers for Interferometry
M. Anderson, J. D. Monnier, K. Ozdowy +2
arXiv9 Sep 2026PreprintarXiv licenceFull textInstrumentation & methods Optics & photonicsarXiv
Josephson interferometry in an Oppenheimer--Snyder-like scale-dependent black-hole spacetime
Ali Ovgun, Reggie C. Pantig, G. Lambiase
arXiv1 Sep 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textGravitation & general relativityarXiv
Length-scale dependence of collective time reparameterization in swap dynamics
Massimo Pica Ciamarra
arXiv12 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCondensed matter Statistical & nonlinear physicsarXiv
Emergent Active-Blob Length Scale Governs the Collapse Transition of Tangentially Driven Polymers
Baptiste Parage, Sara Jabbari-Farouji
arXiv20 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textCondensed matterarXiv

Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{lailey2026pendellösung,
  title = {{Pendellösung length-scale neutron and X-ray interferometry}},
  author = {Owen Lailey and Alexandre Boutot and David G. Cory and Joseph P. Cotter and Vishal Dhamgaye and Tao Hong and Michael G. Huber and Young-June Kim and Winfried Kockelmann and Jeremy W. Paster and Dusan Sarenac and Kawal Sawhney and Naume Shentevski and Ivar Taminiau and Dmitry A. Pushin},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.24709},
  eprint = {2609.24709},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24709},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Pendellösung length-scale neutron and X-ray interferometry
AU  - Owen Lailey
AU  - Alexandre Boutot
AU  - David G. Cory
AU  - Joseph P. Cotter
AU  - Vishal Dhamgaye
AU  - Tao Hong
AU  - Michael G. Huber
AU  - Young-June Kim
AU  - Winfried Kockelmann
AU  - Jeremy W. Paster
AU  - Dusan Sarenac
AU  - Kawal Sawhney
AU  - Naume Shentevski
AU  - Ivar Taminiau
AU  - Dmitry A. Pushin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/21
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.24709
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24709
AB  - Neutron and X-ray perfect-crystal interferometers (PCIs) are powerful platforms for studies of fundamental physics and phase-contrast imaging. Further enhancing several PCI capabilities requires reducing crystal blade thickness to the micron scale, which minimizes dynamical-diffraction image blur, permits operation in the pendellösung regime where blade thickness controls beam splitting, and reduces absorption for simultaneous neutron and X-ray operation. However, fabricating multiple crystal blades with identical micrometer-scale thicknesses over centimeter-scale areas remains a major challenge. Here, using a non-etching sub-micron fabrication technique, we demonstrate silicon triple-Laue interferometers with equal-blade-thicknesses of 110 μm and 350 μm, operated with both neutrons and X-rays. These devices are the thinnest PCIs realized to date, enabling a factor-of-six reduction in dynamical-diffraction beam spreading for improved phase-contrast imaging, while reaching the single pendellösung length regime in which crystal thickness provides an experimentally accessible control parameter for engineered quantum-optical beam splitting of plane-wave inputs. These results motivate multi-blade PCI designs utilizing identical half-pendellösung crystal lamellae that are proposed for neutron spin--orbit and electric dipole moment measurements.
ER  -

Abstract

Related

Cite