Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: We experimentally demonstrate that electrically neutral particles, neutrons, can be used to directly visualize the electrostatic field inside a target volume that can be physically isolated or occupied. Electric field images are obtained using a spin-polarized neutron beam with a recently developed polarimetry method for polychromatic beams that permits detection of a small angular change in spin orientation. This Letter may enable a new diagnostic technique sensitive to the structure of electric potential, electric polarization, charge distribution, and dielectric constant by imaging spatially dependent electric fields in objects that cannot be accessed by other probes.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Yuan-Yu Jau, Daniel S. Hussey, Thomas R. Gentile, Wangchun Chen
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G11630931, G395720410
OpenAlex ID: W3033378875