Neutron interferometry enables precision measurements that are typically
operated within elaborate, multi-layered facilities which provide substantial
shielding from environmental noise. These facilities are necessary to maintain
the coherence requirements in a perfect crystal neutron interferometer which is
extremely sensitive to local environmental conditions such as temperature
gradients across the interferometer, external vibrations, and acoustic waves.
The ease of operation and breadth of applications of perfect crystal neutron
interferometry would greatly benefit from a mode of operation which relaxes
these stringent isolation requirements. Here, the INDEX Collaboration and
National Institute of Standards and Technology demonstrates the functionality
of a neutron interferometer in vacuum and characterize the use of a compact
vacuum chamber enclosure as a means to isolate the interferometer from spatial
temperature gradients and time-dependent temperature fluctuations. The vacuum
chamber is found to have no depreciable effect on the performance of the
interferometer (contrast) while improving system stability, thereby showing
that it is feasible to replace large temperature isolation and control systems
with a compact vacuum enclosure for perfect crystal neutron interferometry
