Speaker
Description
The KATRIN experiment aims to determine the effective mass of the electron antineutrino using kinematics of the electrons from tritium $\beta$ decay. The current upper limit determined by the KATRIN experiment is $m_\nu<0.45\,\mathrm{eV}$ at 90\% confidence level (KATRIN Collaboration et al., Direct neutrino-mass measurement based on 259 days of KATRIN data. Science 388, 180-185 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq9592). A next-generation tritium-based experiment aims to reach sensitivity to the inverted neutrino mass ordering. For this purpose, a novel detector system based on metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) is being proposed as a promising technology. To perform MMC-based spectroscopy of an electron beam, the electrons must be guided windowlessly through the main spectrometer at room temperature to a cryostat at $\mathrm{mK}$, where the $4\,\mathrm{cm^2}$ MMC-based detector will sit. Metallic microcalorimeters (MMCs) are cryogenic quantum sensors that rely on a calorimetric detection principle for single particles. The MMC-based detector is extremely sensitive to changes in the magnetic field in the $\mathrm{mT}$ region and will not work if it is exposed to temperatures exceeding the $\mathrm{mK}$ regime, as it is based on superconductivity. The development of a magnetic chicane with thermal shielding layers is necessary to guide electrons losslessly from the main spectrometer at room temperature and and rather large magnetic fields towards the MMC-based detector at $\mathrm{mK}$ and a low magnetic field on the order of $\mathrm{mT}$. Such a windowless connection between a room temperature region and a $\mathrm{mK}$ region has never been achieved. This highly motivates the design of such a chicane.
This poster will show the first ideas to realise such a magnetic chicane and will focus on the guidance of the electrons through that magnetic chicane using the simulation software Kassiopeia (https://github.com/KATRIN-Experiment/Kassiopeia.git). The software can simulate the movement of charged particles through magnetic and electric fields. Here the guidance of electrons generated by an e-gun and the tritium source used in KATRIN are analysed. These simulations are crucial for the design of the magnetic chicane.
| Collaboration or Other Affiliation | KATRIN |
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