Phd project: Quantum Technologies for Neutrino Mass

Supervisor: Prof. Ruben Saakyan

The purpose of the project is to use recent breakthroughs in quantum technologies to develop a technique that is capable of a guaranteed measurement of the absolute neutrino mass. The ability to measure the absolute neutrino mass in a laboratory environment is one of the most important challenges in modern particle physics. Recent results from neutrino oscillation experiments indicate that the mass can be anywhere between 0.01 and 1 eV. The current leading techniques cannot be extended to probe the mass below 0.2 eV. This limitation can be overcome with a use of recent advances in quantum technologies. In this approach tritium atoms will be brought to a standstill in a magnetic trap and the energy of the electrons emitted in tritium beta-decay will be determined by measuring the frequency of EM radiation generated as a result of the electron’s cyclotron motion in a magnetic field. This technology is known as Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES). UCL is leading a consortium (Quantum Technologies for Neutrino Mass) that has recently been awarded a grant to pursue this technique. The specific goal of the programme is to develop an apparatus that can demonstrate this technology with deuterium atoms that is transferrable to tritium atoms. The CRES Demonstrator Apparatus (CRESDA) will be built and operated at UCL with the view to move it to a facility that can handle large amounts of radioactive tritium (such is the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy) to perform the neutrino mass measurement. A PhD project will include:
  • Modelling of tritium decay in the trap.
  • Simulations of behaviour of atoms and electrons in strong magnetic field and their evaluation against laboratory data.
  • Calibration of CRESDA response.
  • Modelling of RF-radiation from electron’s cyclotron motion reconstructing the full chain from emission through propagation and detection.
  • Physics reach studies of CRESDA sensitivity to neutrino mass.


    • For more details please contact r.saakyan at ucl.ac.uk