Erice: INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS, 47th COURSE

An atomic tritium source, realized by magnetically trapping sub-kelvin-cold atoms, is a key technology for future experiments such as KATRIN++, Project 8, and QTNM, all of which aim to probe the effective electron antineutrino mass with a sensitivity below 50 meV. The first step in a multi-stage approach is the dissociation of molecular tritium. The two main technologies pursued for this are plasma-based dissociators and thermal crackers. The emitted atomic beam is supposed to be cooled in the second stage of the R&D effort. To determine the dissociation and cooling efficiency, multiple complementary diagnostics are being developed.
In this talk, I will report on current efforts to characterize plasma-based dissociators using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and to measure atomic hydrogen beams via hydrogenation of graphene.