Diamond sensor for the neutron electric dipole moment experiment

As part of its mission to understand the fundamental forces and particles of nature as manifested in nuclear matter, DOE is funding an experiment to measure the electric dipole moment of neutron. This sophisticated experiment tests the standard model by monitoring the response of neutrons in crossed electric and magnetic fields. This Phase I project will investigate a method for measuring the strength of these electric and magnetic fields within the interaction region. It is a challenging environment, because access to the interaction region is limited, the temperature approaches absolute zero, and the sensors must cause minimal perturbations to the fields. The research will investigate a fiberized, all-optical sensor based on nitrogen-doped diamonds. Special optical techniques will achieve better than 1 MHz spectral resolution, allowing the magnetic sublevels to be resolved; fields are determined by measuring the shifts in these sublevels. The Phase I research involves building a laboratory sensor and testing it out to determine its sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Several collaborations have been formed to measure neutron electric dipole moments. Each could benefit from specialized instrumentation to measure electric and magnetic fields. Other physics experiments could benefit, as could particle accelerators.