Speakers
Description
The KATRIN experiment determines the absolute neutrino mass via high-precision electron spectroscopy of the tritium β-decay spectrum. Recently, an upper limit of 0.45 eV (90% C.L.) was achieved, with a target sensitivity of 0.3 eV. As KATRIN and next-generation experiments advance, the demand for solid-state tritium sources and targets continues to grow. Promising candidate materials include graphene, which can chemisorb atomic tritium, and Ti-based metal samples, where the titanium acts as a tritium getter. The PTOLEMY experiment investigates the use of atomic tritium bound on graphene as a target material for the detection of cosmic relic neutrinos. In the KATRIN experiment, both tritiated graphene and Ti-based samples are explored as potential low-activity, solid sources of β-electrons. One application of such samples is the characterization of new detector technologies, e.g., metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs). Additionally, they could be used as calibration sources for already established detection techniques like beta-induced X-ray spectroscopy (BIXS).
In this work, we present first quantitative measurements of tritium retention for both sample types, obtained at the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK). We determine the total adsorbed activity and track how stable the retained tritium remains during long-term storage. We also quantify outgassing by directly measuring the activity released from the samples into their storage containers. These results provide a systematic basis for assessing the suitability of tritium-loaded solids for neutrino mass experiments and tritium-related research.
| Collaboration or Other Affiliation | KATRIN |
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