Single electron detection and spectroscopy via relativistic cyclotron radiation

Abstract

It has been understood since 1897 that accelerating charges must emit electromagnetic radiation. Cyclotron radiation, the particular form of radiation emitted by an electron orbiting in a magnetic field, was first derived in 1904. Despite the simplicity of this concept, and the enormous utility of electron spectroscopy in nuclear and particle physics, single-electron cyclotron radiation has never been observed directly. Here we demonstrate single-electron detection in a novel radiofrequency spec- trometer. We observe the cyclotron radiation emitted by individual magnetically-trapped electrons that are produced with mildly-relativistic energies by a gaseous radioactive source. The relativistic shift in the cyclotron frequency permits a precise electron energy measurement. Precise beta elec- tron spectroscopy from gaseous radiation sources is a key technique in modern efforts to measure the neutrino mass via the tritium decay endpoint, and this work demonstrates a fundamentally new approach to precision beta spectroscopy for future neutrino mass experiments.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (in "The Review of Particle Properties" 2004)
• Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
• CODATA Recommended Values of the Fundamental Physical Constants: 2010
• New Measurement of the Electron Magnetic Moment and the Fine Structure Constant
• Final Results from phase II of the Mainz Neutrino Mass Search in Tritium $\beta$ Decay
• An upper limit on electron antineutrino mass from Troitsk experiment

Cited by in corpus (47)

• Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Neutrino Mass Ordering from Oscillations and Beyond: 2018 Status and Future Prospects
• Status of Light Sterile Neutrino Searches
• Determining the neutrino mass with Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy - Project 8
• High magnetic fields for fundamental physics
• Direct Measurements of Neutrino Mass
• The Design, Construction, and Commissioning of the KATRIN Experiment
• Interaction of electron beams with optical nanostructures and metamaterials: From coherent photon sources towards shaping the wave function
• Kassiopeia: A Modern, Extensible C++ Particle Tracking Package
• Particle Physics at the European Spallation Source
• A Design for an Electromagnetic Filter for Precision Energy Measurements at the Tritium Endpoint
• The use of low temperature detectors for direct measurements of the mass of the electron neutrino
• ${}^{83\text{m}}$Kr calibration of the 2013 LUX dark matter search
• Electron Radiated Power in Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy Experiments
• Working principle and demonstrator of microwave-multiplexing for the HOLMES experiment microcalorimeters
• Direct Neutrino Mass Experiments
• High-resolution spectroscopy of gaseous ${}^{83m}$Kr conversion electrons with the KATRIN experiment
• Prospects for Neutrino Spin Coherence in Supernovae
• Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy of Electrons from Tritium Beta Decay and ${}^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr Internal Conversion
• Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy Signal Classification with Machine Learning in Project 8
• Beta decay of molecular tritium
• Opportunities and open questions in modern $\beta$ decay
• Low energy phenomena of the lepton sector in an $A_4$ symmetry model with heavy inverse seesaw neutrinos
• Constraints on the Active and Sterile Neutrino Masses from Beta-Ray Spectra: Past, Present and Future
• A formalism to assess the accuracy of nuclear-structure weak interaction effects in precision $\beta$-decay studies
• Determining Absolute Neutrino Mass using Quantum Technologies
• Locust: C++ software for simulation of RF detection
• Shakeup and shakeoff satellite structure in the electron spectrum of ${}^{83}$Kr${}^m$
• Translationally invariant matrix elements of general one-body operators
• SYNCA: A Synthetic Cyclotron Antenna for the Project 8 Collaboration
• keV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Sensitivity Estimation with Time-Of-Flight Spectroscopy in KATRIN using Self-Consistent Approximate Monte Carlo
• The Intermediate Neutrino Program
• Warm dark matter sterile neutrinos in electron capture and beta decay spectra
• Deep Learning Based Event Reconstruction for Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy
• Viterbi Decoding of CRES Signals in Project 8
• Adaptable platform for trapped cold electrons, hydrogen and lithium anions and cations
• Tritium beta decay with modified neutrino dispersion relations: KATRIN in the dark sea
• The Role of Ab Initio Beta-Decay Calculations in Light Nuclei for Probes of Physics Beyond the Standard Model
• New targets for relic antineutrino capture
• A study of the relativistic corrections to polarized tritium $\beta$-decay
• Fundamental Neutron Physics: a White Paper on Progress and Prospects in the US
• Real-time Signal Detection for Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy Measurements using Antenna Arrays
• Status and Perspectives of Neutrino Physics
• Results from the Project 8 phase-1 cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy detector
• Numerical treatment of annual modulation of relic neutrinos
• Project 8 Phase III Design Concept