0000000000699596
AUTHOR
F.m. Fränkle
Penning discharge in the KATRIN pre-spectrometer
The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is a next-generation, large-scale tritium β-decay experiment to determine the neutrino mass by investigating the kinematics of tritium β-decay with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c2 using the MAC-E filter technique. In order to reach this sensitivity a low background level of 10−2 counts per second (cps) is required. A major background concern in MAC-E filters is the presence of Penning traps. A Penning trap is a special configuration of electromagnetic fields that allows the storage of electrically charged particles. This paper describes the mechanism of Penning discharges and the corresponding measurements performed at the test setup of the KAT…
Impact of a cryogenic baffle system on the suppression of radon-induced background in the KATRIN Pre-Spectrometer
The KATRIN experiment will determine the effective electron anti-neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c2 at 90% CL. The energy analysis of tritium β-decay electrons will be performed by a tandem setup of electrostatic retarding spectrometers which have to be operated at very low background levels of <10−2 counts per second. This benchmark rate can be exceeded by background processes resulting from the emanation of single 219,220Rn atoms from the inner spectrometer surface and an array of non-evaporable getter strips used as main vacuum pump. Here we report on the impact of a cryogenic technique to reduce this radon-induced background in electrostatic spectrometers. It is based on ins…