Observability of stochastic resonance in neutron scattering

The observability of the stochastic resonance phenomenon in a neutron scattering experiment is investigated, considering that the scatterer can hop between two sites. Under stochastic resonance conditions scattered intensity is transferred from the quasielastic region to two inelastic peaks. The magnitude of the signal-to-noise ratio is shown to be similar to that arising in the corresponding power spectrum. Effects of potential asymmetry are discussed in detail. Asymmetry leads to a reduction of the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 1-xi(2), where xi is an asymmetry parameter which is zero for symmetric problems and equal to unity in a completely asymmetric case.