Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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HK: Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 21: Instrumentation und Anwendungen

HK 21.6: Talk

Monday, March 7, 2005, 15:30–15:45, TU MA042

Detectors for Bound Quantum States of Neutrons in the Earth’s Gravitational Field — •Sophie Nahrwold and Hartmut Abele — Physikalisches Institut, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

A new kind of position sensitive detector for neutrons has been developed. The detector consists of a nuclear trace detector coated with a thin layer of ¹⁰Boron. It has a very high spatial resolution of 1 to 2 µm.

In summer 2004, this detector was used to further establish the existence of bound quantum states of ultracold neutrons in the earth’s gravitational field. It was possible to directly measure the density distribution of ultracold neutrons above a totally reflecting, horizontal mirror.

The experiment is also sensitive to gravity-like forces on a scale of 10µm or below. These forces would deform the density distribution of the neutrons and also change their energy. Some limits for the existence of such forces can be deduced from the experiment and will be presented in the talk.