The most common method to measure direct current high voltage (HV) down to the ppm-level is to use resistive high-voltage dividers. Such devices scale the HV into a range where it can be compared ...with precision digital voltmeters to reference voltages sources, which can be traced back to Josephson voltage standards. So far the calibration of the scale factors of HV dividers for voltages above 1 kV could only be done at metrology institutes and sometimes involves round-robin tests among several institutions to get reliable results. Here we present a novel absolute calibration method based on the measurement of a differential scale factor, which can be performed with commercial equipment and outside metrology institutes. We demonstrate that reproducible measurements up to 35 kV can be performed with relative uncertainties below . This method is not restricted to metrology institutes and offers the possibility to determine the linearity of high-voltage dividers for a wide range of applications.
Sterile neutrinos are a minimal extension of the standard model of particle physics. A promising model-independent way to search for sterile neutrinos is via high-precision β-spectroscopy. The ...Karlsruhe tritium neutrino (KATRIN) experiment, equipped with a novel multi-pixel silicon drift detector focal plane array and read-out system, named the TRISTAN detector, has the potential to supersede the sensitivity of previous laboratory-based searches. In this work we present the characterization of the first silicon drift detector prototypes with electrons and we investigate the impact of uncertainties of the detector's response to electrons on the final sterile neutrino sensitivity.
Focal-plane detector system for the KATRIN experiment Amsbaugh, J.F.; Barrett, J.; Beglarian, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2015, Letnik:
778, Številka:
C
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The focal-plane detector system for the KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment consists of a multi-pixel silicon p-i-n-diode array, custom readout electronics, two superconducting solenoid ...magnets, an ultra high-vacuum system, a high-vacuum system, calibration and monitoring devices, a scintillating veto, and a custom data-acquisition system. It is designed to detect the low-energy electrons selected by the KATRIN main spectrometer. We describe the system and summarize its performance after its final installation.
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment will determine the mass of the electron neutrino with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV (90% CL) via a measurement of the β-spectrum of gaseous tritium near ...its endpoint of E0 = 18.57 keV. An ultra-low background of about b = 10 mHz is among the requirements on reaching this sensitivity. In the KATRIN main beam line, two spectrometers of MAC-E filter type are used in tandem configuration. This setup, however, produces a Penning trap, which could lead to increased background. We have performed test measurements showing that the filter energy of the pre-spectrometer can be reduced by several keV in order to diminish this trap. These measurements were analyzed with the help of a complex computer simulation, modeling multiple electron reflections from both the detector and the photoelectric electron source used in our test setup.
Dead layer on silicon p–i–n diode charged-particle detectors Wall, B.L.; Amsbaugh, J.F.; Beglarian, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2014, Letnik:
744
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Semiconductor detectors in general have a dead layer at their surfaces that is either a result of natural or induced passivation, or is formed during the process of making a contact. Charged ...particles passing through this region produce ionization that is incompletely collected and recorded, which leads to departures from the ideal in both energy deposition and resolution. The silicon p-i-n diode used in the KATRIN neutrino-mass experiment has such a dead layer. We have constructed a detailed Monte Carlo model for the passage of electrons from vacuum into a silicon detector, and compared the measured energy spectra to the predicted ones for a range of energies from 12 to 20 keV. The comparison provides experimental evidence that a substantial fraction of the ionization produced in the "dead" layer evidently escapes by diffusion, with 46% being collected in the depletion zone and the balance being neutralized at the contact or by bulk recombination. The most elementary model of a thinner dead layer from which no charge is collected is strongly disfavored.
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