The Airy wave packet is a solution to the potential-free Schrödinger equation that exhibits remarkable properties such as self-acceleration, nondiffraction, and self-healing. Although Airy beams are now routinely realized with electromagnetic waves and electrons, the implementation with neutrons has remained elusive due to small transverse coherence lengths, low fluence rates, and the absence of neutron lenses. In this Letter, we overcome these challenges through a holographic approach and present the first experimental demonstration of neutron Airy beams. The presented techniques pave the way for fundamental physics studies with Airy beams of nonelementary particles, the development of novel neutron optics components, and the realization of neutron Airy-vortex beams.
Sarenac, Dusan, Lailey, Owen, Henderson, Melissa E., Ekinci, Huseyin, Clark, Charles W., Cory, David G., DeBeer-Schmitt, Lisa, Huber, Michael G., White, Jonathan S., Zhernenkov, Kirill, & Pushin, Dmitry A. (2025). Generation of Neutron Airy Beams. Physical Review Letters, 134(15). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.153401
@article{osti_2558164,
author = {Sarenac, Dusan and Lailey, Owen and Henderson, Melissa E. and Ekinci, Huseyin and Clark, Charles W. and Cory, David G. and DeBeer-Schmitt, Lisa and Huber, Michael G. and White, Jonathan S. and Zhernenkov, Kirill and others},
title = {Generation of Neutron Airy Beams},
annote = {The Airy wave packet is a solution to the potential-free Schrödinger equation that exhibits remarkable properties such as self-acceleration, nondiffraction, and self-healing. Although Airy beams are now routinely realized with electromagnetic waves and electrons, the implementation with neutrons has remained elusive due to small transverse coherence lengths, low fluence rates, and the absence of neutron lenses. In this Letter, we overcome these challenges through a holographic approach and present the first experimental demonstration of neutron Airy beams. The presented techniques pave the way for fundamental physics studies with Airy beams of nonelementary particles, the development of novel neutron optics components, and the realization of neutron Airy-vortex beams. Published by the American Physical Society 2025 },
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.153401},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/2558164},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
issn = {ISSN PRLTAO},
number = {15},
volume = {134},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Physical Society},
year = {2025},
month = {04}}
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 440, Issue 3https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(99)01077-3