Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany · founded 2009
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
A merger of the Karlsruhe University and the Karlsruhe Research Center in 2009, KIT hosts the KATRIN experiment — the world's most sensitive direct neutrino-mass measurement. KIT also contributes to the Pierre Auger Observatory, to detector development for future cosmological CMB-S4 measurements, and to underground-laboratory R&D.
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Focus
Host institution of the KATRIN tritium-endpoint neutrino-mass experiment; active program in cosmic-ray physics, astroparticle physics, and detector R&D.
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KATRIN
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment (see the KATRIN experiment page) occupies a dedicated hall on the KIT North Campus. The 70 m beamline spans a windowless gaseous tritium source, differential pumping and cryogenic trapping, a pre-spectrometer, the 10 m × 23 m main spectrometer, and a focal-plane silicon detector.
KATRIN began science data in 2019 and currently reports the world-leading direct limit eV at 90% confidence.
Other programs
Beyond KATRIN, KIT contributes to:
- The Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina (ultra-high-energy cosmic rays)
- The IceCube collaboration (calibration, analysis)
- R&D for future neutrino and dark-matter experiments including DARWIN/XLZD
- Detector and materials development for cryogenic bolometry
Significance
KATRIN is the most sensitive direct-kinematic neutrino-mass measurement in the world and will remain so through the end of its data-taking in 2025. KIT’s broader astroparticle program positions the institute as one of the leading European nodes for neutrino and cosmic-ray physics.