A Challenge to be realised

The KATRIN experiment is currently performed on the Campus North of the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology. The experiment is since nearly 20 years a collaboration between national and international partners  with currently more than 150 scientists, engineers, technicans and students.

KATRIN measures the neutrino mass in a model-independant way via ultrahigh precision measurements of the kinematics of electrons from beta-decay. To detect the subtle effects of a massive neutrino on the kinematics of the beta electrons requires on one hand the provision of a strong gaseous windowless Tritium source with well-known properties and precision control. On the other hand it requires a high resolution spectrometer (MAC-E filter) with large diameter (10 m) to analyze precisely the electron energies from the source. All components are in operation and KATRIN started beta-decay data taking officially in spring 2019.

Like many ultra-precision experiments KATRIN pushes state of the art technologies to its borders. Its wide spectrum of involved physics and engineering, varying for example from molecular physics to nuclear physics, or from cryogenics over vacuum engineering to material science, makes the special touch and fascination of such an experiment.