Polarization Effects in Slow Neutron Scattering II. Spin-Orbit Scattering and Interference

The theory of polarized neutron scattering is extended to include spin-orbit scattering in magnetic substances. The cross section for scattering of a polarized beam includes, in addition to the Schwinger interference term between nuclear and spin-orbit scattering, a polarization-dependent interference term between spin-orbit and magnetic scattering. The latter depends on the real part of the product of magnetic and spin-orbit structure factors, whereas the Schwinger term depends on the imaginary part of the product of the nuclear and spin-orbit structure factors. A calculation shows that this effect should easily be observable in an isotopic mixture of Ni which has no coherent nuclear scattering.