Spin and orbital contributions to the magnetic scattering of neutrons

The current densities in partially filled electron shells of free atoms or ions, when analyzed in terms of multipole expansions, do not carry signatur es that would distinguish orbital and spin currents. The same holds for the orbital and spin contributions to elastic neutron scattering amplitude, wh ich are related to Fourier transforms of the respective current densities. The pitfalls of the so-called dipole approximation, which appears to enable a distinction, are pointed out and errors involved are calculated for some free-ion and crystal-field states.