Magnetic Scattering of Slow Neutrons

Abstract

According to well-known theoretical results, atomic or ionic magnetic moments should per se contribute to the cross section for the scattering of slow neutrons. It is suggested that this contribution may be separated from that due to nuclear scattering by a comparison of the scattering of a metal with the scattering from the corresponding ions of different valence. This magnetic scattering should occur in unmagnetized paramagnetic bodies and, in favorable cases, should be several times as great as the nuclear scattering. Accepting the present value for the magnetic moment of the neutron such experiments will yield information concerning the velocity distribution of the incident neutrons.