Performance of a polarised neutron cryo-flipper using a high TcYBCO film

Abstract

It is well-known that the Meissner effect in superconducting materials can be used to provide a well-defined, non-adiabatic, magnetic-field transition. This can be utilised to produce a highly efficient neutron spin flipper that is suitable for use with neutrons of multiple wavelengths. Devices of this type using superconducting niobium have been deployed on neutron diffractometers for several decades but have required liquid helium to maintain the correct temperature. The use of high Tc materials, which removes the need for cryogens and simplifies the device, was first explored by Fitzsimmons et al. in [1]. In this communication, we describe a π flipper which uses commercially available films consisting of a 350-nm-thick YBCO film capped with 100nm of gold on a 78×100×0.5mm sapphire substrate. We discuss the design and performance of this device. The apparatus is compact (≈200mm in length along the neutron beam), consisting of an oxygen-free high-conductivity copper frame, which holds the YBCO film and is mounted to the cold finger of a closed-cycle He refrigerator. The part of the vacuum chamber, where the YBCO film is located, is 5cm wide, which allows us to minimise the distance from the film to the magnetic guide fields. Negligible small angle neutron scattering is observed from the flipper and its transmission is measured to be greater than 98.5% over a wide band of neutron wavelengths. In this design, the maximum neutron beam size that can be used is 42×42mm2 and we can easily switch from a vertical to a horizontal guide field (both perpendicular to the neutron beam) on either side of the YBCO film. Data are reported for neutron wavelengths between 4 and 8.5Å and flipping efficiencies under a variety of conditions are discussed. Under optimum conditions an efficiency of 99.5±0.3% was achieved for 4–8Å neutrons on a pulsed source and 99.4±0.5% was achieved at a monochromatic source using a neutron wavelength of 4.2Å.