Scattering of 64 eV to 3 keV neutrons from polyethylene and graphite and the coherence length problem

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Feb 10;96(5):055302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.055302. Epub 2006 Feb 8.

Abstract

We measured the neutron scattering intensity ratios from polyethylene (CH2) relative to graphite (C) at several discrete final energies, of narrow widths (approximately 3 eV) between 64 eV and 3 keV. The final energies were selected using a 238U filter. This experiment was carried out to search for any anomaly in the n-p scattered intensities from CH2 caused by the neutron coherence length. The scattered intensity ratios were found to conform to conventional expectations and no anomaly was observed.