Small-angle scattering interferometry with neutron orbital angular momentum states

Methods to prepare and characterize neutron helical waves carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) were recently demonstrated at small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) facilities. These methods enable access to the neutron orbital degree of freedom which provides new avenues of exploration in fundamental science experiments as well as in material characterization applications. 

However, it remains a challenge to recover phase pro les from SANS measurements. We introduce and demonstrate a novel neutron interferometry technique for extracting phase information that is typically lost in SANS measurements. An array of reference beams, with complementary structured phase pro les, are put into a coherent superposition with the array of object beams, thereby manifesting the phase information in the far-field intensity pro le. We demonstrate this by resolving petal-structure signatures of helical wave interference for the rst time: an implementation of the long-sought recovery of phase information from small-angle scattering measurements.