Neutron Charge Radius Deduced from Interferometric Bragg Reflection Technique

Abstract

The possibility of the determination of the neutron mean square charge radius from high-precision thermal-neutron measurements of the nuclear scattering length and of the scattering amplitudes of Bragg reflections is considered. Making use of the same interferometric technique as Shull in 1968, the scattering amplitudes of about eight higher-order Bragg reflections in silicon could be measured without contamination problem. This would provide a value of the neutron charge radius as precise as the disagreeing Argonne-Garching and Dubna values, as well as a Debye-Waller factor of silicon ten times more precise than presently available.