Abstract
- We report the first measurement of the low-energy neutron-He3 incoherent scattering length using neutron interferometry: bi'=(-2.512±0.012stat±0.014syst)fm. This is in good agreement with a recent calculation using the AV18+3N potential. The neutron-He3 scattering lengths are important for testing and developing nuclear potential models that include three-nucleon forces, effective field theories for few-body nuclear systems, and neutron scattering measurements of quantum excitations in liquid helium. This work demonstrates the first use of a polarized nuclear target in a neutron interferometer.