Measurement of helium-3 and deuterium stopping power ratio for negative muons

Abstract

The measurement method and results measuring of the stopping power ratio of helium-3 and deuterium atoms for muons slowed down in the D/ 3 He mixture are presented. Measurements were performed at four values of pure 3 He gas target densities, ϕHe = 0.0337, 0.0355, 0.0359, 0.0363 (normalized to the liquid hydrogen density) and at a density 0.0585 of the D/ 3 He mixture. The experiment was carried out at PSI muon beam µE4 with the momentum Pµ = 34.0 MeV/c. The measured value of the mean stopping ratio S3 He/D is 1.66 ± 0.04. This value can also be interpreted as the value of mean reduced ratio of probabilities for muon capture by helium-3 and deuterium atoms.