A new experiment to search for the permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron is being developed for installation at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This experiment will be performed in liquid helium at ? 0:4 K and requires a large electric field (E ~ 75 kV/cm) to be applied in liquid helium. We have constructed a new HV test apparatus to study electric breakdown in liquid helium. Initial results demonstrated that it is possible to apply fields exceeding 100 kV/cm in a 1 cm gap between two electropolished stainless steel electrodes12 cm in diameter for a wide range of pressures.
We have constructed an apparatus to study DC electrical breakdown in liquid helium at temperatures as low as 0.4 K and at pressures between the saturated vapor pressure and $sim$600 torr. The apparatus can house a set of electrodes that are 12 cm in diameter with a gap of $1-2$ cm between them, and a potential up to $pm 50$ kV can be applied to each electrode. Initial results demonstrated that it is possible to apply fields exceeding 100 kV/cm in a 1 cm gap between two electropolished stainless steel electrodes 12 cm in diameter for a wide range of pressures at 0.4 K. We also measured the current between two electrodes. Our initial results, $I<1$ pA at 45 kV, correspond to a lower bound on the effective volume resistivity of LHe of $rho_V > 5times10^{18}$ $Omegacdot$cm. This lower bound is 5 times larger than the bound previously measured. We report the design, construction, and operational experience of the apparatus, as well as initial results.
We report on the strategy used to optimize the sensitivity of our search for a neutron electric dipole moment at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Measurements were made upon ultracold neutrons stored within a single chamber at the heart of our apparatus. A mercury cohabiting magnetometer together with an array of cesium magnetometers were used to monitor the magnetic field, which was controlled and shaped by a series of precision field coils. In addition to details of the setup itself, we describe the chosen path to realize an appropriate balance between achieving the highest statistical sensitivity alongside the necessary control on systematic effects. The resulting irreducible sensitivity is better than 1*10-26 ecm. This contribution summarizes in a single coherent picture the results of the most recent publications of the collaboration.
We present results from a first demonstration of a magnetic field monitoring system for a neutron electric dipole moment experiment. The system is designed to reconstruct the vector components of the magnetic field in the interior measurement region solely from exterior measurements.
This paper summarizes the results from measurements aiming to characterize ultracold neutron detection with 6Li-doped glass scintillators. Single GS10 or GS20 scintillators, with a thickness of 100-200 micrometer, fulfill the ultracold neutron detection requirements with an acceptable neutron-gamma discrimination. This discrimination is clearly improved with a stack of two scintillators: a 6Li-depleted glass bonded to a 6Li-enriched glass. The optical contact bonding is used between the scintillators in order to obtain a perfect optical contact. The scintillators detection efficiency is similar to that of a 3He Strelkov gas detector. Coupled to a digital data acquisition system, counting rates up to a few 10^5 counts/s can be handled. A detector based on such a scintillator stack arrangement was built and has been used in the neutron electric dipole moment experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute since 2010. Its response for the regular runs of the neutron electric dipole moment experiment is presented.
The MuCap experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute performed a high-precision measurement of the rate of the basic electroweak process of nuclear muon capture by the proton, $mu^- + p rightarrow n + u_mu$. The experimental approach was based on the use of a time projection chamber (TPC) that operated in pure hydrogen gas at a pressure of 10 bar and functioned as an active muon stopping target. The TPC detected the tracks of individual muon arrivals in three dimensions, while the trajectories of outgoing decay (Michel) electrons were measured by two surrounding wire chambers and a plastic scintillation hodoscope. The muon and electron detectors together enabled a precise measurement of the $mu p$ atoms lifetime, from which the nuclear muon capture rate was deduced. The TPC was also used to monitor the purity of the hydrogen gas by detecting the nuclear recoils that follow muon capture by elemental impurities. This paper describes the TPC design and performance in detail.