Decay Microscope for aβν measurement in Ne beta decay

High precision measurement of the recoil ions from beta emitters such as ²³Ne is useful to extract the beta neutrino angular correlation coefficient a_βν. a_βν, in turn, can be used as a probe to look for the tensor exotic couplings, absent in the standard model of physics. In this regard, we report the development and performance studies of a newly built velocity imaging microscope for the study of recoil ions coming either from nuclear decay or collision from the magneto-optically trapped and cooled neon isotopes[1]. This design incorporates a widely used velocity map imaging setup inside the magneto-optical trap[2]. An electrostatic lens is used for velocity imaging while an extra achromatic lens is used to correct the chromatic aberration occurring due to the short focal length of the electrostatic lens. Depending upon the need, the current device can be configured either to study the high-energy nuclear recoils from the beta decay of radioactive Neon isotopes or the low energy ions from optical collisions. I will present the design and recent results from optical collisions of cold neon either with other cold neon atoms or hot residual atoms in the trap chamber.