Performance of the solid deuterium ultra-cold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz

The performance of the upgraded solid deuterium ultracold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz is described. The current configuration stage comprises the installation of a He liquefier to run UCN experiments over long-term periods, the use of stainless steel neutron guides with improved transmission as well as sputter-coated non-magnetic 58 NiMo alloy at the inside walls of the thermal bridge and the converter cup. The UCN yield was measured in a 'standard' UCN storage bottle (stainless steel) with a volume of 32 litres outside the biological shield at the experimental area yielding UCN densities of 8.5 /cm 3 ; an increase by a factor of 3.5 compared to the former setup. The measured UCN storage curve is in good agreement with the predictions from a Monte Carlo simulation developed to model the source. The growth and formation of the solid deuterium converter during freeze-out are affected by the ortho/para ratio of the H 2

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“…5 in Ref. [46], too). Or to put it another way, the expected increase in the UCN yield may be masked by other competing processes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Upgrade of the ultracold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz

et al. 2017

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“…The in-pile cryostat was 3 cm from its foremost position as in Ref. [61]. Outside the reactor shielding, the source vacuum is separated from the experiment vacuum by an AlMg 3 foil of 100 µm thickness.…”

Section: Measurements At the Solid D2 Source At The Triga Reactormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The operating UCN sources under investigation were one out of four beamlines (the so-called EDM beamline) at PF2 (ILL) [4], Grenoble, France, at the TRIGA reactor of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany [53,60,61], at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland [55,[62][63][64], and the new superfluid helium SUN-2 UCN source at ILL. 2 In January 2015 comparison measurements at the solid deuterium based UCN source of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, USA, were performed [70], but due to the atypical performance of the UCN source at that time in comparison to the one given in Refs. [52,71,72] the LANL UCN collaboration did not wish to include the results in this paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of ultracold neutron sources for fundamental physics measurements

et al. 2017

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Ultracold neutrons (UCNs) are key for precision studies of fundamental parameters of the neutron and in searches for new CP violating processes or exotic interactions beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The most prominent example is the search for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron (nEDM). We have performed an experimental comparison of the leading UCN sources currently operating. We have used a 'standard' UCN storage bottle with a volume of 32 liters, comparable in size to nEDM experiments, which allows us to compare the UCN density available at a given beam port.

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“…Besides the Steyerl turbine, two LHe sources and three SD 2 sources are currently operating at the ILL [16], RCNP/KEK [17], LANSCE [18,19], PSI [20], and at the TRIGA Mainz [21]. For a recent comparison see Ref.…”

Section: Pos(inpc2016)359mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold and Ultra-cold Neutrons as Probes of New Physics

Konrad¹,

Abele²

2017

Proceedings of the 26th International Nuclear Physics Conference — PoS(INPC2016)

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Despite the great success of the Standard Model, many key questions in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology are unanswered. In particular, more than 95 % of the universe consists of unknown dark matter and dark energy. Today, a major goal of particle physics is to look for evidence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Collider searches for new physics are well suited to the direct production of new high-mass particles, whereas low-energy precision experiments search for traces that new particles leave in known processes. Direct and indirect evidence of new physics are highly complementary. High-precision experiments with extremely slow, cold and ultra-cold neutrons address some of the unanswered questions, for instance, on the nature of the fundamental forces and underlying symmetries, the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe, or on the nature of the gravitational force at very small distances. For example, the limit on the electric dipole moment of the neutron constrains the CP violating phases, the lifetime of the neutron determines the relative helium abundance in the universe, and neutrons bouncing over a mirror probe dark matter and dark energy. New facilities and technological developments now give window for significant improvement in precision by one to two orders of magnitude. In this paper, we will give an overview of current and planned facilities and experiments, as well as an overview of some of the applications of neutrons to astrophysics, cosmology, and physics beyond the Standard Model.

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Performance of the solid deuterium ultra-cold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz

Cited by 21 publications

References 40 publications

Upgrade of the ultracold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz

Upgrade of the ultracold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz

Comparison of ultracold neutron sources for fundamental physics measurements

Cold and Ultra-cold Neutrons as Probes of New Physics

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