Neutron multiwave interference experiments with many resonance coils

Neutron multiwave interference phenomena based on Ramsey's resonance method of “separated oscillating fields” are studied. The neutron passes through N successive resonant coils (with DC field B 0) which flip the neutron spin with a probability ρ (written as ρ= sin 2 ξ ) smaller than 1. These coils are separated by path lengths l over which a homogeneous field B 1 is present. Because the spin-flip probability ρ is smaller than 1, the number of states is doubled after each flipper, so as to produce 2 N neutron waves at the end of the set-up. The phase difference between any pair of waves is a multiple of a “phase quantum” equaled to the line integral over length l of the field difference B 1− B 0. Highly regular patterns of the quantum mechanical probability R in ( B 1, ξ)-space appear due to pair interference between individual waves.