High pressure μSR studies

The high pressureSR spectrometer [1] formerly located at CERN has been transferred to theE1-beamline at PSI and put back into operation with only minor modifications. The essential features of the high pressure apparatus are described below. The instrument covers a pressure range up to 0.7 GPa which can be extended to 1.4 GPa depending on the design of the high pressure cell. First measurements at PSI were successfully carried out with a single crystalline sample of Gd metal. New developments in high pressure cell design are presented. They are expected to further improve the signal/background ratio and to extend the pressure range to 1 GPa. One type of cell will allow temperatures above 380 K.This work was supported by the German Federal Minister for Research and Technology (Bundesminister für Forschung und Technologie [BMFT]) under Contract Nr. 03KA2-TUM-4 and 03SE3STU.     

The spin turning in ferromagnetic Gd studied by positive muons

We have studied the muon precession frequency in a ferromagnetic single crystal of Gd metal. The overall features of our findings are compatible with earlier results on polycrystalline material. In the temperature region between 245 and 220 K where the Gd magnetization starts to turn away from the c-axis, we observe an increase in the muon depolarization rate, and a complex precession signal which can be separated into two frequency components meaning that spin turning does not occur simultaneously in different parts of the sample (domains). From these more detailed data follows that previously obtained values forB _fc andB _dip can not both be correct. Two explanations for our new result are possible: EitherB _fc undergoes a change around 230 K which is directly coupled to the spin turning angle, or the value of the dipolar field contribution used in the earlier evaluation is too low. This imposes some uncertainty as to the value of the angle at the onset of spin turning derived fromSR frequencies.     

Chemical composition and reaction analysis of single aerosol particles

In situ measurements of gas-liquid surface reactions of single aerosol microdroplets are presented. By means of optical levitation in combination with elastic (Mie) and inelastic (Raman) light scattering it is possible to get information on the chemistry of e.g. acid/base reactions as well as the physical behavior of single microparticles.     

Systematic analysis of the PSI experiment to directly measure the sticking probabilityω s in dt fusion

Starting in 1989 an experiment was run at PSI to directly measure the final sticking probability in muon catalyzed dt fusion. This experiment was based on an active-target ionization chamber (IC) built at Gatchina, Russia, and an array of plastic neutron counters. In three runs approximately 5×10⁶ isolated alpha signals were recorded with around one half of these occurring in the inner chamber region where we have more complete understanding of the systematic errors. Particularly from a long run in 1992 we were able to obtain a very clean sticking peak of some 5000 events. However, to reach an accurate value of sticking, all systematic effects and several major backgrounds had to be understood in detail. To this end a Monte Carlo code was written to simulate the full electrostatic environment of the IC and to recreate completely each signal type including the actual tritium decay noise from the live experiment. A slightly model dependent value of approx. 0.56±0.04% is obtained for final sticking.     

Feasibility of an experiment to determine the branching ratio for the emission of a heavy neutrino after muon capture in3He

The triton energy of the muon capture reaction ³He t+v, where ³ He is the ground state of muonic³He, has been measured in order to investigate a possible heavy v admixture into the flavour with high sensitivity. ³ He has been formed via the pd fusion reaction by stopping ^– in an ionization chamber (IC) filled with an H/D gas mixture of 3% D concentration at a pressure of 161 bar. In a first short experiment 650 triton events were observed yielding an upper limit for the -heavy v mixing strength of 2.3×10^–3 atE _0v=60 MeV.     

Survey of experimental results on μCF including hyperfine effects

Complementary to the investigations of the most efficient dt cycle, also the other muon-induced fusion cycles in mixtures of hydrogen isotopes have been studied. The results of these dedicated experiments provide rich information about muon-induced few-body reactions and contribute significantly to a better overall understanding of CF. A summary of the recent progress will be presented. Special emphasis will be put on two characteristic examples, namely a new experimental approach to study the muonic cascade in H-D mixtures and the systematic study of hyperfine effects in muon-induced reactions.