Open AccessA high-field adiabatic fast passage ultracold neutron spin flipper for the UCNA experiment
Author(s) -
A. T. Holley,
L. J. Broussard,
J.L. Davis,
K. P. Hickerson,
T. M. Ito,
C.-Y. Liu,
J. Lyles,
M. Makela,
Russell Mammei,
M. P. Mendenhall,
C. L. Morris,
R. Mortensen,
R. W. Pattie,
R. R. Rios,
A. Saunders,
A. R. Young
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
review of scientific instruments
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.605
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1089-7623
pISSN - 0034-6748
DOI - 10.1063/1.4732822
Subject(s) - ultracold neutrons , physics , neutron , spin (aerodynamics) , nuclear physics , adiabatic process , proton , atomic physics , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
The UCNA collaboration is making a precision measurement of the β asymmetry (A) in free neutron decay using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). A critical component of this experiment is an adiabatic fast passage neutron spin flipper capable of efficient operation in ambient magnetic fields on the order of 1 T. The requirement that it operate in a high field necessitated the construction of a free neutron spin flipper based, for the first time, on a birdcage resonator. The design, construction, and initial testing of this spin flipper prior to its use in the first measurement of A with UCN during the 2007 run cycle of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center's 800 MeV proton accelerator is detailed. These studies determined the flipping efficiency of the device, averaged over the UCN spectrum present at the location of the spin flipper, to be ̅ε=0.9985(4).
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