Feasibility Study on Laser-Based Real-Time Monitoring of Hydrogen Atom Beams

Through the observation of neutrino oscillations, it has been shown that there are three different neutrino mass eigenstates. Current measurements of the oscillation length of the flavor states yield a lower limit for the effective electron neutrino mass of ∼ 0.05 eV (inverted ordering) or ∼ 0.01 eV (normal ordering). The sensitivity of the KATRIN experiment is limited to ∼ 0.3 eV. Therefore, future experiments which aspire to achieve inverted ordering or better need new technologies. For the next generation of experiments aiming at the direct determination of the neutrino mass using high-resolution beta spectroscopy on tritium, atomic tritium is to be used. The advantage over the currently used molecular tritium (T2) lies in the avoidance of molecular excitations in the 3HeT+ daughter molecule, which lead to a smearing of the beta spectrum, thus limiting the maximum achievable resolution. In order to employ atomic tritium for beta spectroscopy, it is essential to cool it to a few mK and trap it magnetically. A method for contactless real-time analysis of the beam is required to monitor and control the operation of the atomic source. ... mehrThis talk presents a method for characterizing the beam profile based on Rayleigh scattering of a laser beam. By measuring the intensity with a sensitive camera, the particle density can be mapped. In this contribution, the results of a first experimental feasibility study are presented.