Pion elastic scattering from aligned targets

The differences in the interactions of $pi$$sup +$ and $pi$$sup -$ particles with neutrons and protons can be used to investigate relative neutron and proton densities in nuclei. The use of aligned targets with $pi$$sup +$ and $pi$$sup -$ beams presents considerable advantages for the extraction of neutron density information. As a framework for estimating pion scattering from aligned targets we use the Kisslinger optical potential including a deformed nucleon density distribution. The difference between aligned and unaligned differential cross sections (deformation effect) is found to be linear in $beta$ and allows for the extraction of neutron density shape information. (AIP)