European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields (Jun 2017)

A pulsed, mono-energetic and angular-selective UV photo-electron source for the commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

  • J. Behrens,
  • P. C.-O. Ranitzsch,
  • M. Beck,
  • A. Beglarian,
  • M. Erhard,
  • S. Groh,
  • V. Hannen,
  • M. Kraus,
  • H.-W. Ortjohann,
  • O. Rest,
  • K. Schlösser,
  • T. Thümmler,
  • K. Valerius,
  • K. Wierman,
  • J. F. Wilkerson,
  • D. Winzen,
  • M. Zacher,
  • C. Weinheimer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4972-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 77, no. 6
pp. 1 – 20

Abstract

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Abstract The KATRIN experiment aims to determine the neutrino mass scale with a sensitivity of 200 $${\mathrm{meV}/\mathrm{c}^2}$$ meV / c 2 (90% C. L.) by a precision measurement of the shape of the tritium $$\beta $$ β -spectrum in the endpoint region. The energy analysis of the decay electrons is achieved by a MAC-E filter spectrometer. To determine the transmission properties of the KATRIN main spectrometer, a mono-energetic and angular-selective electron source has been developed. In preparation for the second commissioning phase of the main spectrometer, a measurement phase was carried out at the KATRIN monitor spectrometer where the device was operated in a MAC-E filter setup for testing. The results of these measurements are compared with simulations using the particle-tracking software “Kassiopeia”, which was developed in the KATRIN collaboration over recent years.