A pulsed, mono-energetic and angular-selective UV photo-electron source for the commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

• Main Authors: J. Behrens, P. C.-O. Ranitzsch, M. Beck, A. Beglarian, M. Erhard, S. Groh, V. Hannen, M. Kraus, H.-W. Ortjohann, O. Rest, K. Schlösser, T. Thümmler, K. Valerius, K. Wierman, J. F. Wilkerson, D. Winzen, M. Zacher, C. Weinheimer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2017-06-01
• Series: European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4972-9
• ISSN: 1434-6044; 1434-6052

Abstract The KATRIN experiment aims to determine the neutrino mass scale with a sensitivity of 200  $${\mathrm{meV}/\mathrm{c}^2}$$ meV / c 2 (90% C. L.) by a precision measurement of the shape of the tritium $$\beta $$ β -spectrum in the endpoint region. The energy analysis of the decay electrons is achieved by a MAC-E filter spectrometer. To determine the transmission properties of the KATRIN main spectrometer, a mono-energetic and angular-selective electron source has been developed. In preparation for the second commissioning phase of the main spectrometer, a measurement phase was carried out at the KATRIN monitor spectrometer where the device was operated in a MAC-E filter setup for testing. The results of these measurements are compared with simulations using the particle-tracking software “Kassiopeia”, which was developed in the KATRIN collaboration over recent years.