Ultra-stable implanted Rb-83/Kr-83m electron sources for the energy scale monitoring in the KATRIN experiment

0392291 - ÚJF 2014 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Zbořil, Miroslav - Bauer, S. - Beck, M. - Bonn, J. - Dragoun, Otokar - Jakoubek, J. - Johnston, K. - Kovalík, Alojz - Otten, E. W. - Schlosser, K. - Slezák, Martin - Špalek, Antonín - Thummler, T. - Vénos, Drahoslav - Žemlička, J. - Weinheimer, C.
Ultra-stable implanted Rb-83/Kr-83m electron sources for the energy scale monitoring in the KATRIN experiment.
Journal of Instrumentation. Roč. 8, č. 3 (2013), P03009. ISSN 1748-0221. E-ISSN 1748-0221
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP203/12/1896
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : lasers * sources * particle-beams * spectrometers
Subject RIV: BG - Nuclear, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Colliders
Impact factor: 1.526, year: 2013
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-0221/8/03/P03009/pdf/1748-0221_8_03_P03009.pdf

The KATRIN experiment aims at the direct model-independent determination of the average electron neutrino mass via the measurement of the endpoint region of the tritium beta decay spectrum. The electron spectrometer of the MAC-E filter type is used, requiring very high stability of the electric filtering potential. This work proves the feasibility of implanted Rb-83/Kr-83m calibration electron sources which will be utilised in the additional monitor spectrometer sharing the high voltage with the main spectrometer of KATRIN. The source employs conversion electrons of Kr-83m which is continuously generated by Rb-83. The K-32 conversion line (kinetic energy of 17.8 keV, natural line width of 2.7 eV) is shown to fulfill the KATRIN requirement of the relative energy stability of +/- 1.6 ppm/month. The sources will serve as a standard tool for continuous monitoring of KATRIN's energy scale stability with sub-ppm precision. They may also be used in other applications where the precise conversion lines can be separated from the low energy spectrum caused by the electron inelastic scattering in the substrate.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0221211