Neutron phase echo

Abstract

The coherent overlap of the waves traversing the two legs of a perfect-crystal neutron interferometer is altered by a material with a neutron-nuclear optical potential. The fringe visibility is limited by the longitudinal coherence length. The loss of interference contrast caused by a slab of material of positive optical potential can be restored by placing another slab of material with a negative optical potential in the same leg of the interferometer. This paper describes the observation and detailed characterization of this quantum-mechanical phenomenon, which we call the phase-echo effect.