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

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

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

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

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Abstract

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. 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(dn)=3×10-27ecm.

Original language	English
Article number	012501
Journal	Physical Review C
Volume	97
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501
State	Published - Jan 29 2018
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was supported by Los Alamos National Laboratory LDRD Program (Project No. 20140015DR), the US Department of Energy (Contracts No. DE-AC52-06NA25396 and No. DE-FG02-97ER41042) and the US National Science Foundation (Grant No. PHY1615153). We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the LANL Physics and AOT Divisions. We thank M. Mocko and his team for allowing us to use their computer cluster for the mcnp6 simulation presented in this paper. We thank E. Brosha, S. Satjija, and G. Yuan for their help with characterizing the Ni 58 coating.

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10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501

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Ito, T. 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, J. C., Salvat, D. J., Saunders, A., ... Young, A. R. (2018). Performance of the upgraded ultracold neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory and its implication for a possible neutron electric dipole moment experiment. Physical Review C, 97(1), Article 012501. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501

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

abstract = "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. 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(dn)=3×10-27ecm.",

author = "Ito, {T. M.} and Adamek, {E. R.} and Callahan, {N. B.} and Choi, {J. H.} and Clayton, {S. M.} and C. Cude-Woods and S. Currie and X. Ding and Fellers, {D. E.} and P. Geltenbort and Lamoreaux, {S. K.} and Liu, {C. Y.} and S. Macdonald and M. Makela and Morris, {C. L.} and Pattie, {R. W.} and Ramsey, {J. C.} and Salvat, {D. J.} and A. Saunders and Sharapov, {E. I.} and S. Sjue and Sprow, {A. P.} and Z. Tang and Weaver, {H. L.} and W. Wei and Young, {A. R.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Physical Society.",

year = "2018",

month = jan,

day = "29",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501",

language = "English",

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Ito, TM, Adamek, ER, Callahan, NB, Choi, JH, Clayton, SM, Cude-Woods, C, Currie, S, Ding, X, Fellers, DE, Geltenbort, P, Lamoreaux, SK, Liu, CY, Macdonald, S, Makela, M, Morris, CL, Pattie, RW, Ramsey, JC, Salvat, DJ, Saunders, A, Sharapov, EI, Sjue, S, Sprow, AP, Tang, Z, Weaver, HL, Wei, W & Young, AR 2018, 'Performance of the upgraded ultracold neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory and its implication for a possible neutron electric dipole moment experiment', Physical Review C, vol. 97, no. 1, 012501. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501

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T1 - Performance of the upgraded ultracold neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory and its implication for a possible neutron electric dipole moment experiment

AU - Ito, T. M.

AU - Adamek, E. R.

AU - Callahan, N. B.

AU - Choi, J. H.

AU - Clayton, S. M.

AU - Cude-Woods, C.

AU - Currie, S.

AU - Ding, X.

AU - Fellers, D. E.

AU - Geltenbort, P.

AU - Lamoreaux, S. K.

AU - Liu, C. Y.

AU - Macdonald, S.

AU - Makela, M.

AU - Morris, C. L.

AU - Pattie, R. W.

AU - Ramsey, J. C.

AU - Salvat, D. J.

AU - Saunders, A.

AU - Sharapov, E. I.

AU - Sjue, S.

AU - Sprow, A. P.

AU - Tang, Z.

AU - Weaver, H. L.

AU - Wei, W.

AU - Young, A. R.

PY - 2018/1/29

Y1 - 2018/1/29

N2 - 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. 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(dn)=3×10-27ecm.

AB - 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. 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(dn)=3×10-27ecm.

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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevC.97.012501

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85041176867

SN - 2469-9985

VL - 97

JO - Physical Review C

JF - Physical Review C

IS - 1

M1 - 012501

ER -

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

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