We present the status of current US experimental efforts to measure the lifetime of the free neutron by the beam and bottle methods. BBN nucleosynthesis models require accurate measurements with 1 second uncertainties, which are currently feasible. F
or tests of physics beyond the standard model, future efforts will need to achieve uncertainties well below 1 second. We outline paths achieve both.
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 an
d 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.
