Fred Wietfeldt, Ph.D.

Professor

Department Chair
(504) 862-3175
School of Science & Engineering
Photo of Dr. Fred Wietfeldt

Office

Department of Physics
5026 Percival Stern Hall
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118

Labs

4063 & 4067 Percival Stern Hall

Courses Taught

PHYS 2350/2360: Modern Physics I & II

PHYS 3150/6150: Intro to Neutron Science

PHYS/ENGP 3530: Advanced Laboratory

PHYS 3740: Classical Mechanics

PHYS 3450/6450: Elementary Particle Physics

Education & Affiliations

B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984)
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley (1994)

Biography

Dr. Wietfeldt's research is in neutron physics, in particular precision neutron decay measurements and neutron interferometry. These experiments probe the basic forces of nature, test the Standard Model of particle physics, and explore quantum interactions between neutrons and matter. Experiments are conducted at national neutron science facilities such as the NIST Center for Neutron Research in Gaitherburg, Maryland. Experimental design, setup, and data analysis are done on Tulane campus.

Recent Publications

Google Scholar Link

Neutron polarimetry using a polarized 3He cell for the aCORN experiment, Nucl. Instr. Meth. A 988, 164862 (2021). B. C. Schafer, W. A. Byron, W. C. Chen, B. Collett, M. S. Dewey, ..., F. E. Wietfeldt

Precision Measurement of the Neutron Scattering Length of 4He Using Neutron Interferometry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 012501 (2020). R. Haun, F. E. Wietfeldt, M. Arif, M. G. Huber, T. C. Black, ...

Measurements of the Neutron Lifetime, Atoms 6, 70 (2018). F. E. Wietfeldt

aCORN: an experiment to measure the electron-antineutrino correlation coefficient in free neutron decay, Rev. Sci. Instr. 88, 083503 (2017). B. Collett, F. Bateman, J. Byrne, W. A. Byron, W. Chen, ..., F. E. Wietfeldt

Measurement of the Electron-Antineutrino Angular Correlation in Neutron Beta Decay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 042502 (2017). G. Darius, W. A. Byron, C. R. DeAngelis, M. T. Hassan, F. E. Wietfeldt, ...

Precision Measurement of the Radiative Beta Decay of the Free Neutron, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 242501 (2016). M. J. Bales, R. Alarcon, C. D. Bass, E. J. Beise, H. Breuer, ..., F. E. Wietfeldt