arXiv subjects

Dmitry A. Pushin

Publications and source records attributed to Dmitry A. Pushin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Environmental Stabilization of Perfect-Crystal Neutron Interferometry Using a Large Vacuum Chamber with Cryogenic Sample Access

Perfect-crystal neutron interferometry has been a useful tool in measuring nuclear-interactions, probing fundamental physics, and exploring quantum phenomenon. Historically, neutron interferometry experiments have been carried out at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure. However, neutron interferometry is sensitive to changes in the local environment, especially thermal gradients across the crystal, resulting in phase drifts and systematic uncertainty. A need for measurements performed in different sample environments compound these issues. Fortunately, the use of a vacuum chamber has been shown to be an effective method of environmental isolation for perfect-crystal neutron interferometers. A large volume, highly versatile vacuum chamber has been installed at the Neutron Interferometry and Optics Facility at the NIST Center for Neutron Research to isolate interferometry from local temperature and pressure deviations as well as allowing for the introduction of cryogenically cooled samples. The prospect of incorporating a cryostat within a neutron interferometer opens up new areas of investigation, such as superconductivity. In addition to describing the vacuum chamber, we report on the first measurement of a cryogenic-cooled sample by a neutron interferometer. For this demonstration contrast was measured with a Ni60Cu40 sample between 4 K to 300 K.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

A unified quantum random walk model for internal crystal effects in dynamical diffraction

The theory of dynamical diffraction (DD) in perfect crystals is the backbone of high-precision neutron and X-ray diffraction experiments, enabling accurate determination of crystal structure factors and the realization of perfect crystal interferometers. In practice, however, real crystals exhibit deformations and imperfections, including surface roughness, defects, temperature gradients, angled crystal faces, and curvature, that degrade interferometer performance and are difficult to model using conventional DD theory, particularly in complex geometries. To address these challenges, a quantum information (QI) model for DD has been under development, with demonstrated experimental agreement for both ideal crystals and in the presence of some imperfections such as surface roughness and defects. Here, we present a unified quantum random walk model that is now suitable for reproducing all established DD effects. We demonstrate this by incorporating a broad range of internal crystal effects influencing DD intensity distributions, including linear temperature gradients, the DD Talbot effect, and angled or miscut crystals. These results establish the QI model as a comprehensive and flexible framework for experimental analysis, as well as for the design of next-generation perfect crystal neutron interferometers and neutron optical components, such as condensing monochromators.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2026

A perfect crystal neutron loop cavity

Coherent control of neutrons via Bragg diffraction forms the foundation of perfect crystal neutron interferometry, facilitating both fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and applications in quantum information science. In cavity geometries, perfect crystals enable neutron confinement and have been employed in precision measurements of spin-orbit interactions and for neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) searches. However, in these conventional configurations, neutrons undergo a single pass through the crystal geometry, placing a physical constraint on both crystal and in-flight interaction times and measurement sensitivity. In this work, we introduce a neutron loop cavity that coherently recirculates neutrons through repeated Bragg reflections between perfect silicon crystal blades. This structure is predicted to achieve a neutron survival probability of $\sim64~\%$ for 10,000 Bragg reflections, corresponding to confinement times on the order of seconds. We propose a Schwinger interaction measurement that achieves a $\pi$ spin rotation in 800 Bragg reflections, representing more than a tenfold improvement in sensitivity over recent measurements. Further applications include high-sensitivity nEDM searches targeting the $10^{-27}~$e$\cdot$cm scale, as well as competitive experimental tests of neutron parity violation, the neutron lifetime, and the quantum Zeno effect with neutrons.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

A generalized K-space coherent averaging method for engineering lattices of spin-orbit beams

Spin-orbit beams, in which the orbital angular momentum degree of freedom is coupled to a two-level system such as polarization of light or spin in electrons and neutrons, have gained significant interest for their unique propagation properties and potential applications in imaging, material characterization, optical trapping, and quantum information processing. In this work we introduce a method for generating and engineering two-dimensional lattices of such spin-orbit beams based on coherent averaging in k-space. By programming the angle, amplitude, and polarization of a set of input beams we obtain precise control over lattice geometry and period, as well as the orbital and radial degrees of freedom inside each unit cell. We explore both electromagnetic and matter wave implementations, and we experimentally demonstrate the generation and characterization of a micron-scale optical hexagonal lattice with well defined orbital and radial numbers in each unit cell. The described methods provide a robust and general method of generating and controlling structured waves such as optical skyrmions and matter wave implementations of orbit and spin-orbit beams.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Multimode structured neutron beams

The experimental realization of neutron orbital angular momentum (OAM) states and neutron Airy beams has opened new avenues for structured neutron science in both materials characterization and fundamental physics. These additional degrees of freedom in scattering experiments enable the exploration of selection rules for neutrons, the analysis of scattering properties in topological materials, and the generation of auto-focusing neutron beams. In the effort to enhance the amount of spatial and angular-momentum information retrievable from a single measurement, and to overcome current phase-grating efficiency limits, here we demonstrate multimode structured neutron beams that enable simultaneous access to multiple, well-defined OAM modes, and to hybrid combinations of OAM and Airy states. This multimode approach, analogous to wavelength- or OAM-multiplexing in optics, facilitates the efficient investigation of material scattering properties and nuclear interactions with a neutron source composed of a discretized OAM spectrum.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2025

Topological Expansion of Boehm's Brushes via Structured Light

We report a novel entoptic phenomenon in which the classical two-lobed Boehm's brushes are transformed into a multi-lobed structure by projecting spin-orbit coupled light onto the human retina. These structured beams, composed of non-separable superpositions of circular polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM), produce azimuthally modulated entoptic patterns through polarization-dependent scattering in the retina. Unlike Haidinger's brushes, which arise from dichroic absorption in the macula, the observed effect is driven by angular variations in scattering strength relative to the local polarization direction. In regions where scattering centers exhibit polarization orientations that converge toward a common point, their combined contributions reinforce one another, producing brighter and more sharply defined entoptic lobes whose number and orientation vary systematically with the topology of the spin-orbit stimulus. Psychophysical measurements across retinal eccentricities from 0.5$^\circ$ to 4$^\circ$ in eleven participants revealed that contrast detection thresholds decreased exponentially with eccentricity, consistent with polarization-sensitive scattering by isotropic structures in the non-foveal retinal regions. From the psychophysical fits, the mean eccentricity at which the entoptic pattern reached a 50 % threshold was $r_{50} = 1.03^\circ$ with a 95 % confidence interval of [0.72, 1.34]$^\circ$, indicating that the spin-orbit-induced entoptic structure becomes perceptually robust at approximately 1$^\circ$ retinal eccentricity. Together, these findings demonstrate that spin-orbit light modulates scattering-based visual phenomena in previously unrecognized ways, enabling new approaches for probing retinal structure and visual processing using topological features of light.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Quantitative diagnosis of amyloid without Congo red staining using polarized light microscopy

Amyloidosis is a protein misfolding disease caused by the deposition of large, insoluble aggregates (amyloid fibrils) of protein in a tissue, which has been associated with various conditions, such as lymphoid disorders, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, chronic inflammatory processes, and cancers. Amyloid fibrils are commonly diagnosed by qualitative observation of green birefringence from Congo red stained biopsy tissue samples under polarized light, a technique that is limited by lack of specificity, dependence on subjective interpretation, and technical constraints. Studies emphasize the utility of quantitative polarized light microscopy (PLM) methodology to diagnose amyloid fibrils in Congo red stained tissues. However, while Congo red enhances the intrinsic birefringence of amyloid fibrillar structures, there are significant disadvantages such as the appearance of multiple non-green colors under polarized light and binding to other structures, which may result in misdiagnoses with Congo red dye and inconclusive explanations. In this work, we present an improved PLM methodology for quantitative detection of amyloid fibrils without requiring Congo red staining. We perform PLM measurements on four tissues: abdominal subcutaneous tissue biopsy, duodenal biopsy, thyroid biopsy, and breast biopsy, both with Congo red stain and H\&E stain, and through Fourier analysis quantify birefringence, birefringent axis orientation, dichroism, optical activity, and relative amyloid density. These results emphasize a quantitative analysis for amyloid diagnosis rooted in Fourier signal harmonics that does not require Congo red dye and paves the way for rapid, simple, and accurate diagnosis of amyloid fibrils.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2024

Characterizing the circularly-oriented macular pigment using spatiotemporal sensitivity to structured light entoptic phenomena

The macular pigment (MP) in the radially-oriented Henle fibers that surround the foveola enables the ability to perceive the orientation of polarized blue light through an entoptic phenomena known as the Haidinger's brush. The MP has been linked to eye diseases and central field dysfunctions, most notably age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a globally leading cause of irreversible blindness. Recent integration of structured light techniques into vision science has allowed for the development of more selective and versatile entoptic probes of eye health that provide interpretable thresholds. For example, it enabled the use of variable spatial frequencies and arbitrary obstructions in the presented stimuli. Additionally, it expanded the 2° retinal eccentricity extent of the Haidinger's brush to 5° for a similar class of fringe-based stimuli. In this work, we develop a spatiotemporal sensitivity model that maps perceptual thresholds of entoptic phenomenon to the underlying MP structure that supports its perception. We therefore selectively characterize the circularly-oriented macular pigment optical density (coMPOD) rather than total MPOD as typically measured, providing an additional quantification of macular health. A study was performed where the retinal eccentricity thresholds were measured for five structured light stimuli with unique spatiotemporal frequencies. The results from fifteen healthy young participants indicate that the coMPOD is inversely proportional to retinal eccentricity in the range of 1.5° to 5.5°. Good agreement between the model and the collected data is found with a Pearson $χ^2$ fit statistic of 0.06. The presented techniques can be applied in novel early diagnostic tests for a variety of diseases related to macular degeneration such as AMD, macular telangiectasia, and pathological myopia.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2024

Generation of neutron Airy beams

The Airy wave packet is a solution to the potential-free Schrodinger equation that exhibits remarkable properties such as self-acceleration, non-diffraction, 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 work, 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 non-elementary particles, the development of novel neutron optics components, and the realization of neutron Airy-vortex beams.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2024

Small-angle scattering interferometry with neutron orbital angular momentum states

Access to the neutron orbital degree of freedom has been enabled by the recent actualization of methods to prepare and characterize neutron helical waves carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) at small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) facilities. This provides new avenues of exploration in fundamental science experiments as well as in material characterization applications. However, it remains a challenge to recover phase profiles 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 profiles, are put into a coherent superposition with the array of object beams, thereby manifesting the phase information in the far-field intensity profile. We demonstrate this by resolving petal-structure signatures of helical wave interference for the first time: an implementation of the long-sought recovery of phase information from small-angle scattering measurements.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Measuring the visual angle of polarization-related entoptic phenomena using structured light

The ability to perceive polarization-related entoptic phenomena arises from the dichroism of macular pigments held in Henle's fiber layer of the retina and can be inhibited by retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, which alter the structure of the macula. Structured light tools enable the direct probing of macular pigment density through the perception of polarization-dependent entoptic patterns. Here, we directly measure the visual angle of an entoptic pattern created through the illumination of the retina with a structured state of light and a perception task that is insensitive to corneal birefringence. The central region of the structured light stimuli was obstructed, with the size of the obstruction varying according to a psychophysical staircase. The perceived size of the entoptic pattern was observed to vary between participants, with an average visual angle threshold radius of $9.5^\circ \pm 0.9^\circ$, 95% C.I. = [$5.8^\circ$, $13^\circ$], in a sample of healthy participants. These results (with eleven azimuthal fringes) differ markedly from previous estimates of the Haidinger's brush phenomenon's extant (two azimuthal fringes), of $3.75^\circ$, suggesting that higher azimuthal fringe density increases pattern visibility. The increase in apparent size and clarity of entoptic phenomenon produced by the presented structured light stimuli may possess greater potential to detect the early signs of macular disease over perception tasks using uniform polarization stimuli.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2021

Pendellösung Interferometry Probes the Neutron Charge Radius, Lattice Dynamics, and Fifth Forces

Structure factors describe how incident radiation is scattered from materials such as silicon and germanium and characterize the physical interaction between the material and scattered particles. We use neutron pendellösung interferometry to make precision measurements of the (220) and (400) neutron-silicon structure factors, and achieve a factor of four improvement in the (111) structure factor uncertainty. These data provide measurements of the silicon Debye-Waller factor at room temperature and the mean square neutron charge radius $\langle r_n^2 \rangle = -0.1101 \pm 0.0089 \, \mathrm{fm}^2$. Combined with existing measurements of the Debye-Waller factor and charge radius, the measured structure factors also improve constraints on the strength of a Yukawa-modification to gravity by an order of magnitude over the 20 pm to 10 nm length scale range.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2021

Remote state preparation of single photon orbital angular momentum lattices

Optical beams with periodic lattice structures have broadened the study of structured waves. In the present work, we generate spin-orbit entangled photon states with a lattice structure and use them in a remote state preparation protocol. We sequentially measure spatially-dependent correlation rates with an electron-multiplying intensified CCD camera and verify the successful remote preparation of spin-orbit states by performing pixel-wise quantum state tomography. Control of these novel structured waves in the quantum regime provides a method for quantum sensing and manipulation of periodic structures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Human psychophysical discrimination of spatially dependant Pancharatnam-Berry phases in optical spin-orbit states

We tested the ability of human observers to discriminate distinct profiles of spatially dependant geometric phases when directly viewing stationary structured light beams. Participants viewed polarization coupled orbital angular momentum (OAM) states, or ``spin-orbit'' states, in which the OAM was induced through Pancharatnam-Berry phases. The coupling between polarization and OAM in these beams manifests as spatially dependant polarization. Regions of uniform polarization are perceived as specifically oriented Haidinger's brushes, and study participants discriminated between two spin-orbit states based on the rotational symmetry in the spatial orientations of these brushes. Participants used self-generated eye movements to prevent adaptation to the visual stimuli. After initial training, the participants were able to correctly discriminate between two spin-orbit states, differentiated by OAM $=\pm1$, with an average success probability of $69\%$ ($S.D. = 22\%$, $p = 0.013$). These results support our previous observation that human observers can directly perceive spin-orbit states, and extend this finding to non-rotating beams, OAM modes induced via Pancharatnam-Berry phases, and the discrimination of states that are differentiated by OAM.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Talbot Effect of orbital angular momentum lattices with single photons

The self-imaging, or Talbot Effect, that occurs with the propagation of periodically structured waves has enabled several unique applications in optical metrology, image processing, data transmission, and matter-wave interferometry. In this work, we report on the first demonstration of a Talbot Effect with single photons prepared in a lattice of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states. We observe that upon propagation, the wavefronts of the single photons manifest self-imaging whereby the OAM lattice intensity profile is recovered. Furthermore, we show that the intensity at fractional Talbot distances is indicative of a periodic helical phase structure corresponding to a lattice of OAM states. This phenomenon is a powerful addition to the toolbox of orbital angular momentum and spin-orbit techniques that have already enabled many recent developments in quantum optics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Spin-Orbit States of Neutron Wavepackets

We propose a method to prepare an entangled spin-orbit state between the spin and the orbital angular momenta of a neutron wavepacket. This spin-orbit state is created by passing neutrons through the center of a quadrupole magnetic field, which provides a coupling between the spin and orbital degrees of freedom. A Ramsey fringe type measurement is suggested as a means of verifying the spin-orbit correlations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Broadband Neutron Interferometer

We demonstrate a two phase-grating, multi-beam neutron interferometer by using a modified Ronchi setup in a far-field regime. The functionality of the interferometer is based on the universal \moire effect that was recently implemented for X-ray phase-contrast imaging in the far-field regime. Interference fringes were achieved with monochromatic, bichromatic, and polychromatic neutron beams; for both continuous and pulsed beams. This far-field neutron interferometry allows for the utilization of the full neutron flux for precise measurements of potential gradients, and expands neutron phase-contrast imaging techniques to more intense polycromatic neutron beams.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Decoherence Free Neutron Interferometry

Perfect single-crystal neutron interferometers are adversely sensitive to environmental disturbances, particularly mechanical vibrations. The sensitivity to vibrations results from the slow velocity of thermal neutrons and the long measurement time that are encountered in a typical experiment. Consequently, to achieve a good interference solutions for reducing vibration other than those normally used in optical experiments must be explored. Here we introduce a geometry for a neutron interferometer that is less sensitive to low-frequency vibrations. This design may be compared with both dynamical decoupling methods and decoherence-free subspaces that are described in quantum information processing. By removing the need for bulky vibration isolation setups, this design will make it easier to adopt neutron interferometry to a wide range of applications and increase its sensitivity.

quant-ph↗