Abstract

The Airy wave packet is a solution to the potential-free Schrödinger equation that exhibits remarkable properties such as self-acceleration, nondiffraction, and self-healing. Although Airy beams are now routinely realized with electromagnetic waves and electrons, the implementation with neutrons has remained elusive due to small transverse coherence lengths, low fluence rates, and the absence of neutron lenses. In this Letter, we overcome these challenges through a holographic approach and present the first experimental demonstration of neutron Airy beams. The presented techniques pave the way for fundamental physics studies with Airy beams of nonelementary particles, the development of novel neutron optics components, and the realization of neutron Airy-vortex beams.

Publication Details
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2025
Volume
134
Number of Pages
153401
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.153401
URL
https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.153401
Journal
Phys. Rev. Lett.
Contributors
Date Published
Apr