Diamond mosaic crystals for neutron instrumentation: First experimental results

Diamond single crystals were recently proposed as monochromators of unprecedented performance [1] (Freund, 2009). In the present paper we describe how diamond crystals with a suitable mosaic spread can be produced using a specific plasma CVD technique. Up to 2 mm thick samples with an average mosaic spread of 0.2° have been produced. We report on X- and gamma-ray characterisation checking the uniformity of the mosaic structure and present the results of a first study regarding the neutron reflection properties of this outstanding material. These promising results show that the diamond diffraction properties are not too far from the theoretical expectations. For example, 34% peak reflectivity has been obtained for a 1 mm thick crystal at 1 Å wavelength.