Status of the PERC instrument

Neutron beta decay is an excellent system to study the charged weak interaction experimentally. The decay is precisely described by theory and unencumbered by nuclear structure effects. Observables are numerous correlation coefficients which e.g. relate the spin of the neutron and the momenta of the particles, spectra and the neutron lifetime. Most importantly, precision measurements in neutron beta decay are used to investigate the structure of the weak interaction and to derive the element V_ud of the Cabibbi-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix. The Proton Electron Radiation Channel instrument, which is currently under construction at the FRM, Garching, is designed to improve measurements of several correlation coefficients by an order of magnitude. In this talk, we briefly present the concept of the instrument as well as its current status.