• P. Kyberd
  Brunel University, Middlesex

Muon ionization cooling provides the only practical solution to prepare high brilliance beams necessary for a neutrino factory or muon colliders. The muon ionization cooling experiment (MICE) is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). It comprises a dedicated beam line to generate a range of input emittance and momentum, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. A fist measurement of emittance is performed in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in liquid hydrogen and RF acceleration. A second spectrometer identical to the first one and a particle identification system provide a measurement of the outgoing emittance. By April 2009 it is expected that the beam and first set of detectors will have been commissioned, and a first measurement of input beam emittance may be reported. Along with the plan of measurements of emittance and cooling that will follow in the second half of 2009 and in 2010.