Study of Thin Iron Films for Polarization Analysis of Ultracold Neutrons

The TUCAN (TRIUMF Ultra-Cold Advanced Neutron) collaboration aims to search for the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) with unprecedented precision. One of the essential elements for the nEDM measurement is a polarization analyzer of ultracold neutrons (UCNs), whose main component is a magnetized thin iron film. Several thin iron films were deposited on aluminum and silicon substrates and were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry and cold-neutron reflectometry. A magnetic field required to saturate the iron film is ∼12 kA/m for those on the aluminum substrates and 6.4 kA/m for the silicon substrates. The magnetic potential of the iron films on the Si substrate was estimated to be 2 T by the neutron reflectometry, which is sufficient performance for an UCN polarization analyzer of the nEDM measurement.