Visit the KATRIN experiment in this 360° VR panorama. Take a tour with your virtual guide to learn more about the KATRIN experiment, change some experimental parameters and observe the effect on the particles inside the beam tube. Or explore the environment freely, including numerous info points with additional pictures and videos and encounters with actual KATRIN scientists.

The VR environment is co-created and hosted by the National Institute for Science Communication (NaWik).

Take a closer look at KATRIN's "black eye" with a low-poly model of the detector section.

• The automated tour starts at the core of the detector with the silicon wafer and builds up to the superconducting magnets. You can highlight key components underlined in the explanatory text.
• In the virtual room, you are free to navigate around the model and hide/unhide individual components. Use the magnifier glass to zoom and show labels of key features.

KATRIN sets new limit on neutrino mass

Watch the announcement with new results of KATRIN, Live-Chat with Guido Drexlin, Christian Weinheimer, Susanne Mertens and Magnus Schlösser and Flash Talks of colaborated institutes. (Februar 2022)

• German

All about KATRIN & neutrinos

• English
• German

KATRIN in press

• Galileo (German, 11 min): "Dicke Katrin: Die genaueste Waage der Welt"
• PM Wissen (German, 6 min): "Wie viel wiegen Geisterteilchen?"
• El Independiente (Spanish, 2 min): "KATRIN: A la caza de neutrinos, partículas fantasma con una megaestructura"

How to become a scientist at KATRIN

• Bachelor student (German, 4 min)
• Master student (German, 3 min)
• PhD student (German, 3 min)

Science in presentations

• Dr. Manuel Klein: ions in KATRIN
  • 3D animation
  • Slides
  • Putty
  • On site
• Dr. Florian Heizmann: blind analysis at KATRIN
  • 3D animation
  • Slides
  • Board
  • On site

Popular science talks

If you want to dive deeper into the world of KATRIN, follow these scientists on a layman's path into the neutrino cosmos!

• Lisa Schlüter at the open day of the MPP in 2019 (German, 15 min): "How heavy is one neutrino?"
• Prof. Susanne Mertens at Cafe & Kosmos in 2018: "Neutrinos on the weighing scale"
  • Presentation (German, 40 min)
  • Q&A (German, 30 min)
• Prof. Kathrin Valerius at the University of Stuttgart in 2016 (German, 1 hour): "Den Geisterteilchen auf der Spur"

Science talks

This is for the experts!

• Prof. Christian Weinheimer at the CNNP in 2020 (English, 30 min): "First results from the neutrino mass experiment KATRIN"
• Dr. Björn Lehnert at Stanford University in 2019 (English, 1 hour): "First results of the KATRIN experiment on the absolute neutrino mass scale"
• Prof. Christian Weinheimer at the CNNP in 2017 (English, 25 min): "The direct neutrino mass search with KATRIN"
• Prof. Hamish Robertson at the UC Berkeley in 2014 (English, 25 min): "Neutrino mass"

Let's build a neutrino experiment!

• The main spectrometer: measurement principle, electrode system and closure of the vacuum setup in May 2012 (German, 5 min)
• Background measurement of the main spectrometer (3 min)
• Arrival of the tritium source
  • The demonstrator (German, 3 min)
  • The actual source in 2016 (2 min)
• Closing the beamline in 2016 (1 min)

Milestone ceremonies

At last! After almost two decades, the KATRIN experiment is inaugurated and just one year later delivers first results: the world-leading upper limit on the neutrino mass from lab experiments.

• Inauguration of the KATRIN experiment in 2018
  • Button ceremony (English, 2 min)
  • Full ceremony (playlist, mostly English, 2 hours)
• First result ceremony in 2019 (English, 2 hours)