The Beta-decay Paul Trap Mk IV: Design and commissioning

Abstract

The Beta-decay Paul Trap is an open-geometry, linear trap used to measure the decays of ${}^8$Li and ${}^8$B to search for a tensor contribution to the weak interaction. In the latest ${}^8$Li measurement of Burkey et al. (2022), ${\hat{I}}^2$ scattering was the dominant experimental systematic uncertainty. The Beta-decay Paul Trap Mk IV reduces the prevalence of ${\hat{I}}^2$ scattering by a factor of 4 through a redesigned electrode geometry and the use of glassy carbon and graphite as electrode materials. The trap has been constructed and successfully commissioned with ${}^8$Li in a new data campaign that collected 2.6 million triple coincidence events, an increase in statistics by 30% with 4 times less ${\hat{I}}^2$ scattering compared to the previous ${}^8$Li data set.

17 pages, 7 figures