Deuterium Charge Radius Experiment (DRad) at Jefferson Lab

High precision muonic deuterium spectroscopic measurements found a significantly smaller (7$\sigma$) deuterium charge radius compared to the CODATA recommended value, creating the ``deuterium charge radius puzzle''. In order to investigate this, the DRad experiment (Jefferson Lab PR12-17-009) was proposed to measure the $e-d$ elastic scattering cross section in a very low momentum transfer squared region ($\rm{Q}^2 = 2\times10^{-4} - 5\times10^{-2}~\rm{(GeV/c)}^2$), with a sub-percent proposed precision. The designed setup of the experiment will be largely based on that of the PRad experiment (Jefferson Lab E12-11-106), with an addition of a low energy Si-based cylindrical recoil detector within the windowless gas flow target cell for the rejection of the quasi-elastic background, and a second layer Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector to improve the tracking capability for a better beam-line background rejection and reductions of other systematic uncertainties. The absolute $e-d$ elastic scattering cross section will be normalized to that of the well-known M$\o$ller scattering process, which will be measured simultaneously within similar kinematics and detector acceptances. In this talk, we will present the design of the experimental setup and preliminary projected results.