Neutron phase imaging and tomography

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Jun 2;96(21):215505. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.215505. Epub 2006 Jun 2.

Abstract

We report how a setup consisting of three gratings yields quantitative two- and three-dimensional images depicting the quantum-mechanical phase shifts of neutron de Broglie wave packets induced by the influence of macroscopic objects. Since our approach requires only a little spatial and chromatic coherence it provides a more than 2 orders of magnitude higher efficiency than existing techniques. This dramatically reduces the required measurement time for computed phase tomography and opens up the way for three-dimensional investigations of previously inaccessible quantum-mechanical phase interactions of neutrons with matter.