Energy loss of deuterons in $^{3}$He gas: a threshold effect

A. Formicola - et al.

2024 Impact factor 2.8

Hadrons and Nuclei

Eur. Phys. J. A 8, 443-446

Energy loss of deuterons in ³He gas: a threshold effect

A. Formicola¹ - M. Aliotta¹ - G. Gyürky² - F. Raiola¹ - R. Bonetti³ - C. Broggini⁴ - L. Campajola⁵ - P. Corvisiero⁶ - H. Costantini⁶ - A. D'Onofrio⁷ - Z. Fülöp² - G. Gervino⁸ - L. Gialanella⁵ - A. Guglielmetti³ - C. Gustavino⁹ - G. Imbriani^5,10 - M. Junker⁹ - A. Ordine⁵ - P. Prati⁶ - V. Roca⁵ - D. Rogalla¹ - C. Rolfs¹ - M. Romano⁵ - F. Schümann¹ - E. Somorjai² - O. Straniero¹¹ - F. Strieder¹ - F. Terrasi⁷ - H.P. Trautvetter¹ - S. Zavatarelli⁶

¹ Institut für Physik mit Ionenstrahlen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany
² Atomki, Debrecen, Hungary
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Milano and INFN, Milano, Italy
⁴ INFN, Padova, Italy
⁵ Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Universita Federico II and INFN, Napoli, Italy
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Genova and INFN, Genova, Italy
⁷ Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Seconda Universita di Napoli, Caserta and Napoli, Italy
⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica Sperimentale, Universita di Torino and INFN, Torino, Italy
⁹ Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso dell`INFN, Assergi, Italy
¹⁰ Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy
¹¹ Osservatorio Astronomico di Collurania, Teramo, Italy

Received: 16 May 2000 / Revised version: 29 August 2000
Communicated by B. Povh

Abstract
The energy loss of deuterons in $\ensuremath{\mathsf{^{3}He}}$ gas was measured at E_d = 15 to 100keV using the $\ensuremath{\mathsf{^{3}He}}$ pressure dependence of the $\ensuremath{\mathsf{^{3}He}}$ (d,p) $\ensuremath{\mathsf{^{4}He}}$ cross-section at a given incident energy. At the highest energies, the observed energy loss is in good agreement with a standard compilation. However, with decreasing energy the experimental values drop steadily below the theoretical values and near E_d = 18keV they drop sharply (within 1keV) reaching the domain of nuclear stopping power. This threshold behavior is due to the minimum $1s\rightarrow 2s$ electron excitation of the He target atoms, i.e. it is a quantum effect. Some consequences are discussed.