ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal
This is a page describing data taken during an experiment at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. Information about the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source can be found at https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk.
Exploring Neutron Orbital Angular Momentum as a Potential Probe of Matter
Abstract: Light can carry both spin and orbital angular momentum (OAM) with the former appearing as the familiar polarization of the beam and the latter distorting the propagating wavefront into a helical shape. Such vortex light beams interact with matter and can transfer rotational motion to colloidal particles in suspension, for example. They are increasingly used to probe chiral order in matter. The goal of our research is to determine whether OAM exists for neutron beams and whether it can be used to probe chiral structure in matter. In a recent Larmor experiment we measured the spin echo pattern produced by several silicon-based, forked, diffraction gratings with topological charge l=1 and we have compared the results with a calculation based on the phase object approximation. There is a very large discrepancy between the calculation and the measurement even though the same method predicts very accurately the spin echo pattern for gratings with parallel features. We now wish to add measurement of gratings with different topological charges to uncover appropriate scaling laws to resolve the current discrepancy between experiment and theory.
Principal Investigator: Professor Roger Pynn
Experimenter: Dr Robert Dalgliesh
Experimenter: Dr Fankang Li
Experimenter: Dr Melissa Henderson
Experimenter: Dr Stephen Kuhn
Local Contact: Dr Steven Parnell
Experimenter: Mr Samuel McKay
DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510242
ISIS Experiment Number: RB2510242
| Part DOI | Instrument | Public release date | Download Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510242-1 | LARMOR | 06 July 2028 | Download |
Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation
The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research
publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher],
[doi]
For Example:
Professor Roger Pynn et al; (2025): Exploring Neutron Orbital Angular Momentum as a Potential Probe of Matter, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510242
Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.
