An experimental test of an elastically bent silicon crystal as a thermal-neutron monochromator

The effectiveness of employing an elastically bent perfect Si (111) crystal as a monochromator for neutron-diffraction experiments is demonstrated on rocking curves presented for a flat perfect Si (220) crystal and a mosaic Fe (110) crystal, for two different collimations of the incident beam. For the sake of comparison equivalent rocking curves with a conventional mosaic Zn monochromator are also introduced. The experimental results obtained indicate that curved perfect-crystal monochromators may become a useful alternative to mosaic-crystal ones.