SATURNE: Current status and physics potential

The SArov Tritium Neutrino Experiment (SATURNE), will study neutrino–atom collisions at unprecedentedly low energies for neutrino scattering experiments. A high-intensity tritium source of electron antineutrinos will be employed, with a total tritium mass of at least 1 kg (about 10 MCi) and possibly up to 4[Formula: see text]kg (about 40 MCi). The goal of SATURNE is to provide the first experimental evidence of coherent elastic neutrino-atom scattering and to search for the neutrino magnetic moment. It is expected that the detection and measurement of the elastic neutrino–atom interaction channel will be achieved using a 1–m 3 liquid He-4 detector in a superfluid state. With five-year data from this detector, one will be able to probe the neutrino magnetic moment at a level of [Formula: see text], which is an order of magnitude better than the world-leading upper limits. SATURNE will also study the ionization channel of neutrino-atom scattering. To this end, a cryogenic 4-kg Si crystal detector and a low-temperature 14-kg SrI 2 (Eu) scintillation detector are being developed. Both detectors will have record low energy thresholds for their respective detector types. They are expected to achieve a sensitivity to the electron-antineutrino [Formula: see text] value of the order of [Formula: see text] already after one year of taking data.