Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 30: Precision Spectroscopy of Atoms and Ions IV (joint session A/Q)
A 30.3: Talk
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 15:00–15:15, HS 1098
Multi-Cubic-Meter Atom Trapping for Project 8 — •Alec Lindman and Darius Fenner for the Project 8 collaboration — Institute for Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA+, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
The Project 8 direct neutrino mass experiment will achieve its next-generation sensitivity of 40 meV by improving precision (with its Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy method), statistics (which scale with active volume in Project 8 rather than area), and control of systematics (by replacing molecular tritium with atomic tritium).
Since atomic tritium recombines on contact with surfaces, a large, static magneto-gravitational trap will hold the tritium atoms in free space. To achieve its sensitivity, Project 8 requires a density of about 1017 atoms per m3 at about 1 mK and a total volume of about 100 m3, divided among ten identical 10 m3 traps.
Keeping such a trap full over the multi-year runtime of the experiment requires producing a high flux of atoms (1019 atoms/s) with a hot atom source, continuously cooling them (first on surfaces, and then using magnetic fields and gas-gas collisions), and finally injecting the cold beam into the trap. This talk will describe the intended trap design, the difficulties and advantages of a large trap, plans for the cooling system, and experimental progress on a high-flux tritium-compatible atom source.
Keywords: atom trap; atom cooling; atom source; neutrino mass; tritium