•Frank Eichelhardt für die KATRIN-Kollaboration
Universität Karlsruhe, Institut für exp. Kernphysik
The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment investigates spectroscopically the electron spectrum from tritium b decay 3H ® 3He + e- +[`(n)]e near its kinematical endpoint of 18.6 keV. With a strong windowless molecular gaseous Tritium source (WGTS) and a high resolution electrostatic filter of unprecedented energy resolution, KATRIN will allow a model-independent measurement of neutrino masses with an expected sensitivity of 0.2 eV (90% CL).
The T2 injection rate into the WGTS is up to 0.4 mbar l s-1 while the maximum allowed flow rate into the pre-spectrometer is 2.5·10-11 mbar l s-1. The necessary suppression of at least 1010 has to be provided by differential pumping sections (DPS) and cryogenic pumping systems (CPS), which are located between source and spectrometer. This report focuses on the present status of the design of tritium related parts of KATRIN including the WGTS, DPS and CPS as well as on ongoing prototype measurements.
Funded in part by the German BMBF Förderschwerpunkt Astroteilchenphysik
under 05CK1VK1/7 and 05CK1UM1/5.