New source for ultracold neutrons at the Institut Laue-Langevin

A new intense superthermal source for ultracold neutrons (UCN) was installed at a dedicated beam line at the Institut Laue-Langevin. Incident neutrons with a wavelength of 0.89 nm are converted to UCN in a 5-liter volume filled with superfluid He4 at a temperature of about 0.7 K. The UCN can be extracted to room temperature experiments. We present the cryogenic setup of the source, a characterization of the cold neutron beam, and UCN production measurements, where a UCN density in the production volume of at least 55 per cm3 was determined.