Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme
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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne
HK 45: Instrumentation IX
HK 45.6: Talk
Thursday, March 19, 2026, 17:30–17:45, PHIL B 302
A spatially resolving detector for ultracold neutrons — •Konrad Franz1, Martin Fertl1, and Dieter Ries2 for the tauSPECT collaboration — 1Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany — 2Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Ultracold neutrons (UCNs) are neutrons with a kinetic energy of around 100 neV. Their defining property is that they can be confined by material vessels and magnetic field gradients. This allows for long observation times and thereby precision measurements of fundamental neutron properties. Spatial resolution is often desirable in UCN experiments, as it provides information about the energy and phase space distribution of the probed ensemble. The presented detector design consists of a sandwich structure. In a 10B conversion layer neutrons generate energetic ions through the 10B (n, α) reaction. In the subsequent scintillation layer light is released which is then guided onto an array of silicon photomultipliers by a 3D printed light guide. This setup is well suited for in-situ detection of UCNs in strong magnetic fields and compatible with vacuum environments. In a first test beam time, a detector prototype was compared to a commercial UCN detector and its spatial resolution was evaluated. This talk will present the detector setup as well as the test beam time results. Furthermore, its use case for tackling systematic effects in the latest generation of precision neutron lifetime experiments will be highlighted at the example of the τSPECT experiment.
Keywords: Ultracold Neutrons; Neutron detection; Neutron Lifetime