NEUTRON SPIN OPTICS - A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT WITH APPLICATIONS

We introduce the concept of neutron spin optics - using the analogy be tween the phase of the Larmor precession in a constant magnetic field and that of an optical wave field to produce well known diffraction an d interference effects in a new medium - and show how this adds a new perspective to the discussion of the two slit interference problem ope ning up the possibility of a description in terms of classical ''hidde n variables''. We then show how this may have applications in the exte nsion of elastic neutron scattering to regions of momentum transfer in accessible to existing techniques.