The 2004 Helmut W. Baer Lecture in Physics was held
on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 in 340 West Hall at 4:00 P.M.
Dr. Steve Lamoreaux
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Dr. Lamoreaux's lecture was titled, Ultracold Neutrons
Ultracold neutrons (UCNs) are neutrons with sufficiently low energy that they can reflect from material surfaces for all angles of incidence, and can be stored in material bottles for times approaching the beta decay lifetime of the neutron. An overview of the physics of UCN-matter interactions and UCN production will be presented, with emphasis on the new UCN source being constructed at Los Alamos. This source will be operated in conjunction with the former LAMPF accelerator. Applications of UCNs to fundamental physical investigations, which includes the search for the neutron electric dipole moment, measurement of the beta-decay lifetime of the neutron, and measurement of the beta-decay angular correlation, will be discussed.
