TrappedIons.org

G. Fremont

Performance of the MORA Apparatus for Testing Time-Reversal Invariance in Nuclear Beta Decay

N. Goyal [1], A. Singh [1], S. Daumas-Tschopp [2], L. M. Motilla Martinez [1,3], G. Ban [2], V. Bosquet [2], J. F. Cam [2], P. Chauveau [1], S. Chinthakayala [1,3,4], G. Fremont, R. P. De Groote, F. de Oliveira Santos [1], T. Eronen [3], A. Falkowski [5,2], X. Flechard, Z. Ge [3,6,1], M. Gonzalez-Alonso, H. Guerin, L. Hayen [2], A. Jaries [3], M. Jbayli [1], A. Jokinen [3], A. Kankainen [3], B. Kootte [3], R. Kronholm [3], N. Lecesne [1], Y. Merrer [2], V. Morel [1], M. Mougeot [3], G. Neyens [4], J. Perronnel [2], M. Reponen [3], A. Raggio [3], S. Rinta-Antila [3], A. Rodriguez-Sanchez [6], N. Severijns [4], J. C. Thomas [1], C. Vandamme [2], S. Vanlangendonk [4], V. Virtanen [3,2], E. Lienard, I. D. Moore [3], P. Delahaye [1]

Abstract

The MORA experimental setup is designed to measure the triple-correlation D parameter in nuclear beta decay. The D coefficient is sensitive to possible violations of time-reversal invariance. The experimental configuration consists of a transparent Paul trap surrounded by a detection setup with alternating beta and recoil-ion detectors. The octagonal symmetry of the detection setup optimizes the sensitivity of positron-recoil-ion coincidence rates to the D correlation, while reducing systematic effects. MORA utilizes an innovative in-trap laser polarization technique. The design and performance of the ion trap, associated beamline elements, lasers and beta and recoil-ion detectors, are presented. Recent progress towards the polarization proof-of-principle is described.