Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Shirvel Stanislaus

College

Arts and Sciences

Discipline(s)

Physics

ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0003-1084-0479

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-23-2016

Abstract

The nEDM experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a search for the electric dipole moment of the neutron (nEDM) at the 10-28 level. The experiment is currently in the research and development phase. One of the variables proportional to the sensitivity of the measurement is the strength of the electric field in the measurement cell where the effect of an nEDM is to be generated. The design of the experiment calls for an electric field of 75 kV/cm in this cell. A unique voltage multiplier involving a variable capacitor has been proposed to achieve this large required electric field. Electrostatic calculations using two independent software packages, COMSOL and Field Precision, were carried out to study the feasibility of the proposed voltage multiplier. A prototype of the electrodes and the voltage multiplier whose size was 25% of full size was also built to verify the predictions of the electrostatic calculations. Results of the tests with the prototype and the electrostatic calculations, are presented.

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Nathaniel Bouman is a sophomore physics and computer science double major pursuing a BS at Valparaiso University with the intent to continue his education by obtaining a doctoral degree in physics. He became involved with the nEDM experiment via the opportunity to do summer research here at VU and is excited to continue work on the nEDM experiment this coming summer (2016), stationed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

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