Effect of Si interlayers on the magnetic and mechanical properties of Fe/Ge neutron polarizing multilayer mirrors

The neutron polarizing supermirror is one of the most important optical devices for polarizing neutron beams. To meet a variety of research demands, neutron polarizing supermirrors need to display high polarization efficiencies at low external magnetic fields. Fe/Si and Fe/Ge multilayers are typically used in neutron polarizing supermirrors because the contrast in scattering length densities almost vanishes for spin-down neutrons. The Fe/Si/Ge/Si multilayer, obtained by adding thin interlayers of Si to an Fe/Ge multilayer, is effective in reducing the external field strength necessary to achieve efficient neutron polarization. To gain insight into the mechanism that controls the required external field strength for a neutron polarizing supermirror, we investigated the magnetic and mechanical properties of Fe/Si, Fe/Ge, and Fe/Si/Ge/Si multilayers. The external field strength required to achieve efficient neutron polarization was found to be proportional to the compressive film stress. The compressive stre...