Index of refraction of gases for matter waves: effect of the motion of the gas particles on the calculation of the index

Abstract

Two different formulae relating the index of refraction $n$ of gases for atom waves to the scattering amplitude have been published. We show here that these two formulae are not consistent with the definition of the total scattering cross-section while the formula developed by one of us (C.C.) in her thesis is in agreement with this standard knowledge. We discuss this result, in particular in the neutron case for which such an index was first introduced. We finally evaluate the index of refraction as a function of well known quantities and we discuss the order of magnitude of the ratio of $(n-1)/n_t$, where $n_t$ is the gas density.

References in corpus (1)

• First measurements of the index of refraction of gases for lithium atomic waves

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Monitoring derivation of the quantum linear Boltzmann equation
• Quantum master equation for collisional dynamics of massive particles with internal degrees of freedom
• High-Resolution Hydrogen Spectroscopy and the Proton Radius Puzzle
• Multiple scattering model of the quantum random Lorentz gas
• Multiple scattering of matter waves: an analytic model of the refractive index for atomic and molecular gases
• Effective-medium approach to the resonance distribution of wave scattering in a random point field