Magnetic Trapping of Atomic Tritium for Neutrino Mass Measurement

Citation

Clark, Benjamin Mathias (2014) Magnetic Trapping of Atomic Tritium for Neutrino Mass Measurement. Senior thesis (Major), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/N1FG-5H27. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:07252014-082021105

Abstract

Improved measurement of the neutrino mass via β decay spectroscopy requires the development of new energy measurement techniques and a new β decay source. A promising proposal is to measure the β energy by the frequency of the cyclotron radiation emitted in a magnetic field and to use a high purity atomic tritium source. This thesis examines the feasibility of using a magnetic trap to create and maintain such a source. We demonstrate that the loss rate due to β decay heating is not a limiting factor for the design. We also calculate the loss rate due to evaporative cooling and propose that the tritium can be cooled sufficiently during trap loading as to render this negligible. We further demonstrate a design for the magnetic field which produces a highly uniform field over a large fraction of the trap volume as needed for cyclotron frequency spectroscopy while still providing effective trapping.

Thesis Files