Antenna Chain Characterization for Project 8 Phase III Development

Studies on neutrinos have significantly progressed in the past few decadees, but we have yet to measure the absolute neutrino mass scale. Project 8 aims to achieve an electron neutrino mass upper bound of 40 meV by leveraging a new technique called Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES), which measures the electron cyclotron frequency and energy in a uniform magnetic field. The neutrino mass could be inferred from the shape of the β-decay electron energy spectrum near the endpoint. Phase III of Project 8 will use an array of antennas around a small active volume of gaseous tritium to record the electron energies. Testing and characterization of the antenna receiving chain with a quantum-limited amplifier provides critical input for estimating sensitivity for both Phase III and Phase IV. This presentation will expand on the latest progress of integrating a prototype Phase III antenna with a Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifier (JTWPA), including the frequency response of the system and potential problems caused by impedance mismatch. We will also gauge the target signal-to-noise ratio with match-filtered injected signals.