Magnetic Neutron Scattering in Solid Oxygen and its Applications to Ultracold Neutron Production

Abstract

Using neutron scattering, we investigate the static and dynamic structure functions $S(Q,\omega)$ of 3 distinct solid phases (using powder average techniques), and characterize the corresponding modes of energy excitation, focusing primarily on the dynamics of spin interaction. With the $S(Q,\omega)$ maps, we extract the temperature dependent production rate and upscattering cross section, that are relevant for understanding experimental data on ultracold neutron production in solid oxygen at the saturated vapor pressure.