318 research outputs found
Spatial confinement of muonium atoms
We report the achievement of spatial confinement of muonium atoms (the bound
state of a positive muon and an electron). Muonium emitted into vacuum from
mesoporous silica reflects between two SiO confining surfaces separated by
1 mm. From the data, one can extract that the reflection probability on the
confining surfaces kept at 100 K is about 90% and the reflection process is
well described by a cosine law. This technique enables new experiments with
this exotic atomic system and is a very important step towards a measurement of
the 1S-2S transition frequency using continuous wave laser spectroscopy.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Thin-disk laser pump schemes for large number of passes and moderate pump source quality
Novel thin-disk laser pump layouts are proposed yielding an increased number
of passes for a given pump module size and pump source quality. These novel
layouts result from a general scheme which bases on merging two simpler pump
optics arrangements. Some peculiar examples can be realized by adapting
standard commercially available pump optics simply by intro ducing an
additional mirror-pair. More pump passes yield better efficiency, opening the
way for usage of active materials with low absorption. In a standard multi-pass
pump design, scaling of the number of beam passes brings ab out an increase of
the overall size of the optical arrangement or an increase of the pump source
quality requirements. Such increases are minimized in our scheme, making them
eligible for industrial applicationsComment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Compact 20-pass thin-disk amplifier insensitive to thermal lensing
We present a multi-pass amplifier which passively compensates for distortions
of the spherical phase front occurring in the active medium. The design is
based on the Fourier transform propagation which makes the output beam
parameters insensitive to variation of thermal lens effects in the active
medium. The realized system allows for 20 reflections on the active medium and
delivers a small signal gain of 30 with M = 1.16. Its novel geometry
combining Fourier transform propagations with 4f-imaging stages as well as a
compact array of adjustable mirrors allows for a layout with a footprint of 400
mm x 1000 mm.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Operational properties of fine powder aerosol as radiation detection medium in gaseous proportional counters
Due to its exceptional properties, 3He proportional counters are the golden standard for neutron detection,
particularly in homeland security applications where large area detectors are deployed. However, in recent
years 3He has become severely scarce, which led to a tremendous price increase and acquisition restrictions
of this material. Motivated by this, the development of 3He-free solutions became a priority. In a previous
work, we have established a novel concept for neutron detection: a proportional counter with boron carbide
(B4C) fine powder suspended in the proportional gas, forming a neutron sensitive aerosol that relies on the
10B neutron capture reaction. Computer simulations and prototype exposure to a cold neutron beam yielded
favorable results, validating the detection concept, which may also be applied to hard x-ray and gamma ray
detection by using fine particles made of a heavy element, such as Bi or Au. In this work we study the effect
of the presence of B4C microparticles in the charge gain and energy resolution of a proportional counter filled
with Ar-CH4 (90%–10%), by irradiation with x-rays from a 55Fe source. For the same applied voltage, an
average gain loss by a factor of 36% and energy resolution (FWHM) increase by 15% (absolute value) was
observed with the inclusion of B4C microparticles. Intrinsic energy resolution was calculated, obtaining 15%
for pure P10 operation and 32% in the presence of the microparticles. While the gain drop is recoverable by
increasing anode voltage, energy resolution degradation may be a drawback in low energy applications, were
energy resolution is favored over detection efficiency.publishe
muCool: A novel low-energy muon beam for future precision experiments
Experiments with muons () and muonium atoms () offer
several promising possibilities for testing fundamental symmetries. Examples of
such experiments include search for muon electric dipole moment, measurement of
muon and experiments with muonium from laser spectroscopy to gravity
experiments. These experiments require high quality muon beams with small
transverse size and high intensity at low energy.
At the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, we are developing a novel device
that reduces the phase space of a standard beam by a factor of
with efficiency. The phase space compression is achieved by
stopping a standard beam in a cryogenic helium gas. The stopped
are manipulated into a small spot with complex electric and magnetic
fields in combination with gas density gradients. From here, the muons are
extracted into the vacuum and into a field-free region. Various aspects of this
compression scheme have been demonstrated. In this article the current status
will be reported.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, TCP 2018 conference proceeding
Proton structure corrections to electronic and muonic hydrogen hyperfine splitting
We present a precise determination of the polarizability and other proton
structure dependent contributions to the hydrogen hyperfine splitting, based
heavily on the most recent published data on proton spin dependent structure
functions from the EG1 experiment at the Jefferson Laboratory. As a result, the
total calculated hyperfine splitting now has a standard deviation slightly
under 1 part-per-million, and is about 1 standard deviation away from the
measured value. We also present results for muonic hydrogen hyperfine
splitting, taking care to ensure the compatibility of the recoil and
polarizability terms.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
Muonic hydrogen cascade time and lifetime of the short-lived state
Metastable muonic-hydrogen atoms undergo collisional -quenching,
with rates which depend strongly on whether the kinetic energy is above
or below the energy threshold. Above threshold, collisional
excitation followed by fast radiative
deexcitation is allowed. The corresponding short-lived component
was measured at 0.6 hPa room temperature gas pressure, with
lifetime ns (i.e.,
at liquid-hydrogen density) and population
% (per atom). In
addition, a value of the cascade time, ns, was found.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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