Neutron Back- and Front-Face Bragg Diffraction on a Thin Si Single Crystal Excited by Ultrasound

Abstract

In this research project, we measured and analyzed the spatial distribution of neutron beam Bragg diffracted from the front- and back-faces of thin Si single crystal undergoing on ultrasound excitation. For the perfect crystal, it is shown that when the acoustic wave amplitude is increased, the front-face peak position remains unchanged and its value grows linearly. The values of ultrasound wave amplitude were determined. The back-face peak becomes asymmetric and tends to disappear. New types of Pendellosung fringes in the center of the diffraction profiles were observed at the first time. It is supposed that in the perfect crystal this effect may be due to the appearance of the new “sonic” extinction length, depending on the amplitude of the ultrasonic wave. Thus, it leads to the new interference interactions between neutron wave and ultrasonic phonons. It is established that within the framework of the dynamical theory of the neutron scattering, some asymptotic models valid for the case of Laue geometry as well as Kato’s quasi-classical approximation can be applied in the case of Bragg geometry also. Good agreement between experimental data and the theory has been obtained.