Development of a large plano-elliptical neutron-focusing supermirror with metallic substrates

Results of this study demonstrated that electroless nickel-phosphorus (NiP) plated metal substrate is an excellent material for producing large aspherical neutron-focusing supermirrors. A large plano-elliptical neutron-focusing supermirror comprising two metallic segments was fabricated using single-point diamond cutting, precision polishing and supermirror coating. The average surface roughness of the metallic substrates was approximately 0.3 nm rms. For evaluation, the focusing supermirror was installed at the SOFIA neutron reflectometer, showing high neutron reflectivity and giving minimal beam width of 0.34 mm in FWHM. Because of the large beam divergence accepted by the mirror, the count rate with the focusing mirror was 3.3 times higher than that obtained using conventional two-slit collimation.