Abstract
Laser trapping and cooling techniques are now being applied to the study of nuclear β-decay at several labs. A magneto-optical trap (MOT) provides a localized source of atoms suspended in space, so the low-energy recoiling nuclei can freely escape and be detected in coincidence with the β. This allows reconstruction of the neutrino momentum, and the deduction of the β-v correlation in a more direct fashion than previously possible. In addition, the nuclei can be polarized by atomic techniques, opening a new class of spin correlation measurements to test the degree to which parity is maximally violated in the weak interaction. Our present experiment has detected several hundred thousand recoil-β+ coincidences from the 0+ → 0+ pure Fermi decay of 38mK, produced at the on-line isotope separators TISOL and ISAC at TRIUMF. Our goal is to set constraints on non-Standard Model scalar bosons competitive with high-energy colliders and more conventional β-v correlation experiments.
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Gorelov, A., Behr, J., Melconian, D. et al. Beta–neutrino correlation experiments on laser trapped 38mK, 37K. Hyperfine Interactions 127, 373–380 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012649229978
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012649229978