Impact of a cryogenic baffle system on the suppression of radon-induced background in the KATRIN Pre-Spectrometer

TL;DR

This paper investigates a cryogenic copper baffle system's effectiveness in reducing radon-induced background in the KATRIN Pre-Spectrometer, aiming to improve sensitivity in neutrino mass measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a cryogenic baffle design that significantly suppresses radon background, enhancing spectrometer performance for neutrino experiments.

Findings

Radon-induced background reduced by the cryogenic baffle.

Design criteria optimize radon adsorption efficiency.

Initial performance shows effective background suppression.

Abstract

The KATRIN experiment will determine the effective electron anti-neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c$^2$ at 90% CL. The energy analysis of tritium $\beta$-decay electrons will be performed by a tandem setup of electrostatic retarding spectrometers which have to be operated at very low background levels of $<10^{-2}$ counts per second. This benchmark rate can be exceeded by background processes resulting from the emanation of single $^{219,220}$Rn atoms from the inner spectrometer surface and an array of non-evaporable getter strips used as main vacuum pump. Here we report on a the impact of a cryogenic technique to reduce this radon-induced background in electrostatic spectrometers. It is based on installing a liquid nitrogen cooled copper baffle in the spectrometer pump port to block the direct line of sight between the getter pump, which is the main source of $^{219}$Rn, and the sensitive flux tube volume. This cold surface traps a large fraction of emanated radon atoms in a region outside of the active flux tube, preventing background there. We outline important baffle design criteria to maximize the efficiency for the adsorption of radon atoms, describe the baffle implemented at the KATIRN Pre-Spectrometer test set-up, and report on its initial performance in suppressing radon-induced background.