Background reduction at the KATRIN experiment by the shifted analysing plane configuration

TL;DR

The paper discusses a novel measurement mode for the KATRIN experiment that uses a shifted analysing plane configuration to reduce background noise, aiming to improve sensitivity in neutrino mass measurement.

Contribution

Introduction of the shifted analysing plane configuration to effectively reduce background noise in the KATRIN experiment.

Findings

Background reduction by a factor of two achieved.

The SAP configuration is a novel shaping of electric and magnetic fields.

This method helps reach the experiment's sensitivity goals.

Abstract

The KATRIN experiment aims at measuring the electron neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV$/c^2$ after five years of data taking. Recently a new upper limit for the neutrino mass of 0.8 eV$/c^2$ (90% CL) was obtained. To reach the design sensitivity, a reduction of the background rate by one order of magnitude is required. The shifted analysing plane (SAP) configuration exploits a specific shaping of the electric and magnetic fields in the KATRIN main spectrometer to reduce the spectrometer background by a factor of two. We discuss the general idea of the SAP configuration and describe the main features of this novel measurement mode.