Prototype of an angular-selective photoelectron calibration source for the KATRIN experiment

Abstract

The method of direct neutrino mass determination based on the kinematics of tritium beta decay, which is adopted by the KATRIN experiment, makes use of a large, high-resolution electrostatic spectrometer with magnetic adiabatic collimation. In order to target a sensitivity on the neutrino mass of 0.2 eV/c^2, a detailed understanding of the electromagnetic properties of the electron spectrometer is essential, requiring comprehensive calibration measurements with dedicated electron sources. In this paper we report on a prototype of a photoelectron source providing a narrow energy spread and angular selectivity. Both are key properties for the characterisation of the spectrometer. The angular selectivity is achieved by applying non-parallel strong electric and magnetic fields: Directly after being created, photoelectrons are accelerated rapidly and non-adiabatically by a strong electric field before adiabatic magnetic guiding takes over.

16 pages, 11 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Final Results from phase II of the Mainz Neutrino Mass Search in Tritium $\beta$ Decay
• Neutrino mass limit from tritium beta decay
• The KATRIN Experiment
• A UV LED-based fast-pulsed photoelectron source for time-of-flight studies

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Current Direct Neutrino Mass Experiments
• The Design, Construction, and Commissioning of the KATRIN Experiment
• Monitoring of the operating parameters of the KATRIN Windowless Gaseous Tritium Source
• The KATRIN Pre-Spectrometer at reduced Filter Energy
• A pulsed, mono-energetic and angular-selective UV photo-electron source for the commissioning of the KATRIN experiment
• Neutrino Masses
• Deconvolution of the energy loss function of the KATRIN experiment
• A precision 32 keV angular-selective photoelectron source for calibration measurements at the KATRIN experiment