Startup of the High-Intensity Ultracold Neutron Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute

TL;DR

The paper reports on the construction, commissioning, and initial operation of the PSI UCN source, a new facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute designed to produce ultracold neutrons for fundamental physics research.

Contribution

It introduces a newly constructed ultracold neutron source at PSI, detailing its design, assembly, and initial operational status for fundamental physics experiments.

Findings

First ultracold neutrons produced in December 2010

Facility received operation approval in June 2011

Provides a new tool for neutron-based fundamental physics studies

Abstract

Ultracold neutrons (UCN) can be stored in suitable bottles and observed for several hundreds of seconds. Therefore UCN can be used to study in detail the fundamental properties of the neutron. A new user facility providing ultracold neutrons for fundamental physics research has been constructed at the Paul Scherrer Institute, the PSI UCN source. Assembly of the facility finished in December 2010 with the first production of ultracold neutrons. Operation approval was received in June 2011. We give an overview of the source and the status at startup.