Gießen 2024 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 40: Instrumentation X

HK 40.6: Talk

Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 17:00–17:15, HBR 19: C 2

A normalization detector for the neutron lifetime experiment τSPECT — •Martin Engler¹, Martin Fertl², and Dieter Ries³ for the tauSPECT collaboration — ¹Department of Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany — ²Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany — ³Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland

The τSPECT experiment aims to measure the free neutron lifetime, using fully magnetic storage. Neutrons with energies of ≈ 50 neV are stored in a magnetic field gradient and then counted after varying storage times. The amount of neutrons filled into the trap in each measurement has to be normalized, in order to account for statistical and systematical changes in the yield of the neutron source. To monitor the flux of storable neutrons during the filling process, an in-situ neutron detector, has been built and installed into the experimental setup. The detector uses a ¹⁰B-coated ZnS:Ag scintillator coupled to an array of silicon photomultipliers. Neutrons are then detected by utilizing the neutron capture reaction ¹⁰B (n,α)⁷Li and detecting the light from the scintillator caused by the reaction’s products. In October 2023 first measurements were taken with τSPECT and the normalization detector both in operation at the same beam port.

This talk will cover the detector’s design, the results of the simultaneous run, as well as initial approaches to normalization.