Single crystal filters for neutron spectrometry

Measurements of the effective absorption coefficient μ have been made, for a range of neutron energies, of large single crystal specimens of quartz, silicon and sapphire, at 300 K and 80 K. The effectiveness of such filters is given by the ratio of μ for (unwanted) epithermal neutrons to that for the desired thermal neutron beam. Our results indicate that sapphire is significantly more effective than either quartz or silicon for a wide range of neutron energies.