Measurements of ultracold-neutron lifetimes in solid deuterium.
/ Authors
C. Morris, J. Anaya, T. Bowles, B. Filippone, P. Geltenbort, R. Hill, M. Hino, S. Hoedl, G. Hogan, T. Ito
and 17 more authors
T. Kawai, K. Kirch, S. Lamoreaux, C-Y. Liu, M. Makela, L. Marek, J. Martin, R. Mortensen, A. Pichlmaier, A. Saunders, S. Seestrom, D. Smith, W. Teasdale, B. Tipton, M. Utsuro, A. Young, J. Yuan
/ Abstract
We present the first measurements of the survival time of ultracold neutrons (UCNs) in solid deuterium (SD2). This critical parameter provides a fundamental limitation to the effectiveness of superthermal UCN sources that utilize solid ortho-deuterium as the source material. These measurements are performed utilizing a SD2 source coupled to a spallation source of neutrons, providing a demonstration of UCN production in this geometry and permitting systematic studies of the influence of thermal up-scatter and contamination with para-deuterium on the UCN survival time.
Journal: Physical review letters