Bonn 2025 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 26: Precision Spectroscopy of Atoms and Ions V (joint session A/Q)
A 26.2: Talk
Thursday, March 13, 2025, 11:30–11:45, KlHS Mathe
R&D towards an atomic tritium source for future neutrino mass experiments — •Caroline Rodenbeck for the KAMATE collaboration — Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, IAP-TLK
A purely kinematic way of measuring the neutrino mass is precision spectroscopy of the tritium beta-decay spectrum at its endpoint. Experiments following this approach have so far used tritium in its molecular form. The associated molecular final state distribution effectively broadens the spectrum and thus reduces the sensitivity on the neutrino mass.
For future experiments aiming for sensitivities as low as the lower boundaries obtained by neutrino oscillation experiments (e.g., 0.05 eV/c2 in case of inverted ordering), atomic tritium sources are needed. Before it is practical to carry out a neutrino mass experiment with an atomic tritium source, key challenges such as multi-stage cooling of an atomic tritium beam to a few mK and magnetic trapping of atoms have to be solved.
The Karlsruhe Mainz Atomic Tritium Experiment (KAMATE) aims to benchmark different types of atomic dissociators and to demonstrate primary cooling stages. KAMATE is a collaboration of JGU and of KIT’s Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK) which currently hosts the KATRIN experiment. Additionally, there are plans to extend the collaboration to build an atomic tritium demonstrator.
The talk gives an overview of the current plans and results within KAMATE and of the vision for a future atomic tritium demonstrator.
Keywords: Neutrino mass; Atomic tritium; Atom cooling; Atom trapping