Performance of the upgraded ultracold neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory and its implication for a possible neutron electric dipole moment experiment

Ito, Takeyasu M.; Adamek, E. R.; Callahan, N. B.; Choi, J. H.; Clayton, S. M.; Cude-Woods, C.; Currie, S.; Ding, X.; Fellers, D. E.; Geltenbort, P.; Lamoreaux, S. K.; Liu, C. -Y.; MacDonald, S.; Makela, M.; Morris, C. L.; Pattie, R. W.; Ramsey, John Clinton; Salvat, D. J.; Saunders, A.; Sharapov, E. I.; Sjue, S.; Sprow, A. P.; Tang, Z.; Weaver, H. L.; Wei, W.; Young, A. R.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501

Performance of the upgraded ultracold neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory and its implication for a possible neutron electric dipole moment experiment

Journal Article · Mon Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Physical Review C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501· OSTI ID:1422926

Ito, Takeyasu M. ^[1]; Adamek, E. R. ^[2]; Callahan, N. B. ^[2]; Choi, J. H. ^[3]; Clayton, S. M. ^[1]; Cude-Woods, C. ^[4]; Currie, S. ^[1]; Ding, X. ^[5]; Fellers, D. E. ^[1]; Geltenbort, P. ^[6]; Lamoreaux, S. K. ^[7]; Liu, C. -Y. ^[8]; MacDonald, S. ^[1]; Makela, M. ^[1]; Morris, C. L. ^[1]; Pattie, R. W. ^[1]; Ramsey, John Clinton ^[1]; Salvat, D. J. ^[2]; Saunders, A. ^[1]; Sharapov, E. I. ^[9] more »

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble (France)
Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, Dubna, Moscow Region (Russia)
Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)

We report the ultracold neutron (UCN) source at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which uses solid deuterium as the UCN converter and is driven by accelerator spallation neutrons, has been successfully operated for over 10 years, providing UCN to various experiments, as the first production UCN source based on the superthermal process. It has recently undergone a major upgrade. This paper describes the design and performance of the upgraded LANL UCN source. Measurements of the cold neutron spectrum and UCN density are presented and compared to Monte Carlo predictions. The source is shown to perform as modeled. The UCN density measured at the exit of the biological shield was 184(32) UCN / cm³, a fourfold increase from the highest previously reported. Finally, the polarized UCN density stored in an external chamber was measured to be 39(7) UCN / cm³, which is sufficient to perform an experiment to search for the nonzero neutron electric dipole moment with a one-standard-deviation sensitivity of σ(d_n) = 3 × 10^-27 e cm.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; AC52-06NA25396; FG02-97ER41042

OSTI ID:: 1422926

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1418395
OSTI ID: 1481656

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-29313

Journal Information:: Physical Review C, Journal Name: Physical Review C Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 97; ISSN PRVCAN; ISSN 2469-9985

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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