Measuring the Neutron Lifetime with Magnetically Trapped Neutrons 

Pil-Neyo Seo, North Carolina State University

 As part of an on-going program that seeks to measure the neutron lifetime
 using magnetically trapped ultracold neutrons (UCN), we are in the process
 of incorporating a larger and deeper superconducting magnetic trap into our
 apparatus. The experiment works by loading the trap with UCN through inelastic
 scattering of 0.89 nm neutrons with phonons in superfluid He-4. Trapped neutrons
 are detected when they decay; charged decay electrons ionize helium atoms in the
 superfluid resulting in scintillation light that is recorded in real time using
 photomultiplier tubes. I will overview the status of the experiment and discuss
 the design and performance of the new Ioffe-type trap to improve the statistical
 sensitivity.