German Conference for Research with Synchrotron Radiation, Neutrons and Ion Beams at Large Facilities

Ultracold neutron sources and their applications at the research reactor TRIGA Mainz

17 Sept 2018, 11:00

15m

MW 2001 (Fakultät für Maschinenwesen)

Talk P1 Instrumentation and methods Parallel session 1

Speaker

Christian Gorges (Institut für Kernchemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

Description

The inherently safe research reactor TRIGA Mainz is able to produce neutron pulses with an energy of 10 MWs for a duration of 30 ms. This makes it a perfect tool for the investigation of the free neutron’s lifetime and for fundamental neutron research in general. Within the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA, a superthermal source for ultracold neutrons (UCN) was built and is used in pulsed operation at the TRIGA Mainz. A UCN density of up to 8.5 UCN per cm$^3$ per neutron pulse in a volume of 32 liters was established [1]. In close collaboration with TU Munich, a second superthermal UCN source is operational and can be used in the continuous operation mode with 100 kW thermal reactor power, e.g., to test and improve experimental components. After a short introduction of the TRIGA Mainz reactor, the talk will concentrate on the production mechanism of UCN, the UCN sources and examples of the research activities with UCN in Mainz.
[1] J. Kahlenberg et al., Eur. Phys. J. A (2017) 53: 226