Experimental determination of gadolinium scattering characteristics in neutron reflectometry with reference layer

Highlights: • The experimental phase determination in neutron reflectometry demands precise values of the parameters of reference layer. • It is desirable to specify the reference layer scattering parameters directly during the experiment. • It is possible to determine the scattering characteristics, using the neutron absorption measurements on a thin film sample. • The corrected values of scattering length allow us to improve accuracy of data processing in neutron reflectometry. -- Abstract: The experimental phase determination in neutron reflectometry with gadolinium reference layer demands precise values of the parameters of reference layer including its scattering characteristics. It is especially important for time-of-flight experiments since in this case one must know these characteristics at each reflectivity point. So it is desirable to specify the reference layer scattering parameters directly during the experiment. In this work the way for determination of scattering characteristics, using the neutron absorption measurements on a thin film sample, is presented.