In: The European Physical Journal A, 2015, vol. 51, no. 11, p. 1–10
We report on the design and first tests of a device allowing for measurement of ultracold neutrons polarisation by means of the simultaneous analysis of the two spin components. The device was developed in the framework of the neutron electric dipole moment experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Individual parts and the entire newly built system have been characterised with ultracold...
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In: Physical Review Letters, 2015, vol. 115, no. 16, p. 162502
We describe a spin-echo method for ultracold neutrons (UCNs) confined in a precession chamber and exposed to a |B0|=1 μT magnetic field. We have demonstrated that the analysis of UCN spin-echo resonance signals in combination with knowledge of the ambient magnetic field provides an excellent method by which to reconstruct the energy spectrum of a confined ensemble of neutrons. The method...
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In: Physics Letters B, 2015, vol. 745, p. 58–63
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In: Physics Letters B, 2014, vol. 739, p. 128–132
The neutron gyromagnetic ratio has been measured relative to that of the 199Hg atom with an uncertainty of 0.8 ppm. We employed an apparatus where ultracold neutrons and mercury atoms are stored in the same volume and report the result γn/γHg=3.8424574(30)γn/γHg=3.8424574(30).
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In: Journal of Applied Physics, 2014, vol. 116, no. 8, p. 084510
The Surrounding Field Compensation (SFC) system described in this work is installed around the four-layer Mu-metal magnetic shield of the neutron electric dipole moment spectrometer located at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The SFC system reduces the DC component of the external magnetic field by a factor of about 20. Within a control volume of approximately 2.5 m × 2.5 m × 3 m,...
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In: Physica B: Condensed Matter, 2011, vol. 406, no. 12, p. 2365-2369
Physics at the Planck scale could be revealed by looking for tiny violations of fundamental symmetries in low energy experiments. In 2008, a sensitive test of the isotropy of the universe has been performed with stored ultracold neutrons (UCN), this is the first clock-comparison experiment performed with free neutrons. During several days we monitored the Larmor frequency of neutron spins in a...
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In: Physical Review Letters, 2009, vol. 103, no. 8, p. 081602
A clock comparison experiment, analyzing the ratio of spin precession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and ¹⁹⁹Hg atoms, is reported. No daily variation of this ratio could be found, from which is set an upper limit on the Lorentz invariance violating cosmic anisotropy field b⊥<2×10⁻²⁰ eV (95% C.L.). This is the first limit for the free neutron. This result...
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In: Physical Review D, 2009, vol. 80, no. 3, p. 032003
We performed ultracold neutron storage measurements to search for additional losses due to neutron (n) to mirror-neutron (n') oscillations as a function of an applied magnetic field B. In the presence of a mirror magnetic field B', ultracold neutron losses would be maximal for B~B'. We did not observe any indication for...
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2009, p. -
The effort towards a new measurement of the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) at the Paul Scherrer Institut's (PSI) new high intensity source of ultracold neutrons (UCN) is described. The experimental technique relies on Ramsey's method of separated oscillatory fields, using UCN in vacuum with the apparatus at ambient temperature. In the first phase, R&D towards the upgrade of the...
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2009///doi: 10.1016/j.nima.2009.07.047
The existence of a mirror world holding a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum could lead to oscillations between the neutron (n) and its mirror partner (n′). Such oscillations could manifest themselves in storage experiments with ultracold neutrons whose storage lifetime would depend on the applied magnetic field. Here, extended details and measurements from the first dedicated experimental...
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