Tuning the Junction between Components of a Segmented Ioffe Trap

Ioffe traps are used in nuclear and particle physics to study the properties of neutral particles via magnetic moments, for example, the lifetime of the neutron, or the neutrino mass using Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES). In these experiments, it is often mechanically necessary to separate the trap into segments with disjoint windings without reducing the trap depth, which would leak particles out of the trap. One optimal configuration in matching two cylindrical octupoles is to offset the two coils azimuthally by 45 degrees with opposite directions of corresponding longitudinal currents. This simple junction geometry maintains the trap depth, while still allowing a physical gap between the two sections of the trap.