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Twisting neutrons may reveal their internal structure

Nature Physics volume 14, pages 1–2 (2018)Cite this article

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To the Editor —

According to quantum mechanics, matter can be described by a wavefunction that can be modified, just like a wave, through processes such as interference. Under certain conditions, specific forms of interference can result in the formation of a vortex. Vortices are defined by some form of coiling motion around a stagnation point. In the case of matter waves, this coiling motion is attributed to the probability density associated with the wavefunction — that is, its probability density current1. Within a quantum context, this motion often translates to a wave with twisted wavefronts that describes a quantized form of azimuthal motion known as orbital angular momentum (OAM).

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Figure 1: Charge and current densities of OAM-carrying neutrons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Ottawa, 25 Templeton Street, Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Ontario, Canada

    Hugo Larocque, Robert W. Boyd & Ebrahim Karimi

  2. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel

    Ido Kaminer

  3. CNR-Istituto Nanoscienze, Centro S3, Via G Campi 213/a, Modena, I-41125, Italy

    Vincenzo Grillo

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  1. Hugo Larocque
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  2. Ido Kaminer
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  3. Vincenzo Grillo
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  5. Ebrahim Karimi
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Correspondence to Ebrahim Karimi.

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Larocque, H., Kaminer, I., Grillo, V. et al. Twisting neutrons may reveal their internal structure. Nature Phys 14, 1–2 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4322x

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