Jobs

Precision measurements with ultracold neutrons address such fundamental questions as: "Why does the universe contain matter, but not antimatter?", "What are the most fundamental symmetries obeyed in nature?", and "Is there new physics beyond the Standard Model that we have been unable to detect with colliders?" This project will help extend recent progress on storing ultracold neutrons for extremely long times, building on the recent delivery of the new instrument SuperSUN at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. To fully exploit this new source technology we plan to develop detectors that can operate inside a cryogenic storage vessel, using magnetic fields to lower a thin potential barrier and enable neutrons to reach an active detector layer by tunneling. Very thin coatings of high surface quality will be produced and characterized for validation studies, with opportunities for use of cutting-edge metrology methods and beamtime experiments at world-leading facilities for neutron research.