Neutron polarization analysis measurements on the spiral phase of MnP

Neutron polarization analysis experiments have been used to remove a long-standing uncertainty in the details of the spiral structure of MnP. With this technique the scattering from orthogonal components of the magnetic moment can be measured separately. For the 2±δ,0,0) satellites, the ratio of spin-flip scattering (c-axis components) to spin-non-flip scattering (b-axis components) is 1.091±0.007. This result can be interpreted either in terms of an elliptical spiral or in terms of a distorted circular spiral with bunching along the easy axis. The issue was resolved in favor of the bunching model by finding third-order satellites of the correct intensity.