Ultracold neutron storage and transport at the PSI UCN source

TL;DR

This paper reports on the measurement and optimization of ultracold neutron transport efficiency at the PSI UCN source, including new measurements and Monte Carlo simulations to improve neutron guide performance.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive measurement of absolute UCN transport efficiency and introduces new data on UCN density and guide transmission, enhancing understanding of neutron transport.

Findings

UCN transport efficiency quantified

UCN guide transmission optimized through simulations

Height-dependent UCN density measured

Abstract

Efficient neutron transport is a key ingredient to the performance of ultracold neutron (UCN) sources, important to meeting the challenges placed by high precision fundamental physics experiments. At the Paul Scherrer Institute's UCN source we have been continuously improving our understanding of the UCN source parameters by performing a series of studies to characterize neutron production and moderation, and UCN production, extraction, and transport efficiency to the beamport. The present study on the absolute UCN transport efficiency completes our previous publications. We report on complementary measurements, namely one on the height-dependent UCN density and a second on the transmission of a calibrated quantity of UCN over a ~16 m long UCN guide section connecting one beamport via the source storage vessel to another beamport. These allow us quantifying and optimizing the performance of the guide system based on extensive Monte Carlo simulations.