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Controlling neutron orbital angular momentum

Nature volume 525, pages 504–506 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The quantized orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons1 offers an additional degree of freedom and topological protection from noise. Photonic OAM states have therefore been exploited in various applications2,3 ranging from studies of quantum entanglement and quantum information science4,5,6,7 to imaging8,9,10,11,12. The OAM states of electron beams13,14,15 have been shown to be similarly useful, for example in rotating nanoparticles and determining the chirality of crystals16,17,18,19. However, although neutrons—as massive, penetrating and neutral particles—are important in materials characterization, quantum information and studies of the foundations of quantum mechanics, OAM control of neutrons has yet to be achieved. Here, we demonstrate OAM control of neutrons using macroscopic spiral phase plates that apply a ‘twist’ to an input neutron beam. The twisted neutron beams are analysed with neutron interferometry. Our techniques, applied to spatially incoherent beams, demonstrate both the addition of quantum angular momenta along the direction of propagation, effected by multiple spiral phase plates, and the conservation of topological charge with respect to uniform phase fluctuations. Neutron-based studies of quantum information science20,21, the foundations of quantum mechanics22,23, and scattering and imaging24 of magnetic, superconducting and chiral materials have until now been limited to three degrees of freedom: spin, path and energy. The optimization of OAM control, leading to well defined values of OAM, would provide an additional quantized degree of freedom for such studies.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the neutron interferometer.
Figure 2: OAM interferograms.
Figure 3: Addition of angular momenta along the direction of propagation accomplished by two spiral phase plates.
Figure 4: Rotational invariance.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support provided by the NSERC ‘Create’ and ‘Discovery’ programmes, CERC and the NIST Quantum Information Program is acknowledged. We appreciate discussions with B. McMorran, D. Sarenac, S. Werner and K. Wright.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, 20899, Maryland, USA

    Charles W. Clark

  2. Photonics Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Massachusetts, 02215, USA

    Roman Barankov

  3. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, 20899, Maryland, USA

    Michael G. Huber & Muhammad Arif

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Ontario, Canada

    David G. Cory

  5. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, N2L 2Y5, Ontario, Canada

    David G. Cory

  6. Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Ontario, Canada

    David G. Cory & Dmitry A. Pushin

  7. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, M5G 1Z8, Ontario, Canada

    David G. Cory

  8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Ontario, Canada

    Dmitry A. Pushin

Authors
  1. Charles W. Clark
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Contributions

C.W.C. and D.A.P. conceived the idea of implementing OAM for neutron beams. D.A.P. conceived the idea of using the spiral phase plate and neutron interferometer for OAM implementation, and designed and built the experimental setup. M.A., M.G.H. and D.A.P. conducted the neutron interferometer experiments. R.B., C.W.C., D.G.C. and D.A.P. led the analysis and wrote the manuscript, with M.A. and M.G.H. contributing substantially.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dmitry A. Pushin.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 Raw data.

Typical images of raw neutron count data obtained over about 80 contiguous hours of data collection with the 2D imaging detector (see Fig. 1). False-colour representation of neutron counts per pixel as indicated by scale on image. On the left is an image of an SPP with L = 0 that is equivalent to a uniform phase plate; on the right is an image of the L = 3 compound SPP discussed in Fig. 3. The horizontal and vertical positions on the 2D neutron detector are shown in millimetres.

Extended Data Figure 2 Data processing.

Illustrations of steps taken to convert raw images collected on the 2D detector to the images shown in Figs 2, 3, 4. a, Raw data. b, Same data, passed through 2D averaging filter with averaging taken over a 10 pixel × 10 pixel square. c, Filtered data normalized to maximum value of intensity in b. The horizontal and vertical positions on the 2D neutron detector are shown in millimetres.

Extended Data Figure 3 Noise distribution.

Illustrations of steps taken to model effects of shot noise in the raw images collected on the 2D detector and images shown in Figs 2, 3, 4. a, Image of the raw data. b, Poisson noise or square root of each pixel shown in a. c, Noise-to-signal ratio of image in a. The horizontal and vertical positions on the 2D neutron detector are shown in millimetres.

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Clark, C., Barankov, R., Huber, M. et al. Controlling neutron orbital angular momentum. Nature 525, 504–506 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15265

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