Abstract: Since the discovery of the total reflection of thermal neutrons more than 40 years ago by Fermi and co-workers, mirror reflection has been successfully applied to neutron beam transport and optics. In order to overcome the limitations of small critical angles of reflection, Mezei and others proposed the use of multilayers, termed supermirrors, designed to increase the angular range of neutron reflection. Since then a certain amount of effort has gone into improving the angular range, reflectivity, and polarization of supermirror devices. This effort has been applied not only to the theoretical design of the multilayer sequence but also to the practical problems of depositing thin films such as uniformity, roughness, and inter-diffusion.!0
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