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Polarizing neutron by light‐irradiated graphene
Author(s) -
Peng Feng
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
annalen der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1521-3889
pISSN - 0003-3804
DOI - 10.1002/andp.201500150
Subject(s) - neutron , polarization (electrochemistry) , graphene , physics , photon , irradiation , magnetic field , circular polarization , spin polarization , condensed matter physics , optics , nuclear physics , electron , quantum mechanics , chemistry
We study the spin orientation of the neutron scattered by light‐irradiated graphene and calculate the average value of spin z‐component of the neutron in terms of a generating functional technique. Our calculation results indicate that there is a remarkable neutron polarization effect when a neutron penetrates graphene irradiated by a circularly polarized light. We analyse the dynamical source of generating this effect from the aspect of photon‐mediated interaction between the neutron spin and valley pseudospin. By comparing with the polarization induced by a magnetic field, we find that this polarization may be equivalent to the one led by a magnetic field of several hundred Teslas if the photon frequency is in the X‐ray frequency range. This provides an approach of polarizing neutrons.