Improved Measurements of Muonic Helium Ground-State Hyperfine Structure at a Near-Zero Magnetic Field.

Muonic helium atom hyperfine structure (HFS) measurements are a sensitive tool to test the three-body atomic system and bound-state quantum electrodynamics theory, and determine fundamental constants of the negative muon magnetic moment and mass. The world's most intense pulsed negative muon beam at the Muon Science Facility of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex allows improvement of previous measurements and testing further CPT invariance by comparing the magnetic moments and masses of positive and negative muons (second-generation leptons). We report new ground-state HFS measurements of muonic helium-4 atoms at a near-zero magnetic field, performed for the first time using a small admixture of CH_{4} as an electron donor to form neutral muonic helium atoms efficiently. Our analysis gives Δν=4464.980(20) MHz (4.5 ppm), which is more precise than both previous measurements at weak and high fields. The muonium ground-state HFS was also measured under the same conditions to investigate the isotopic effect on the frequency shift due to the gas density dependence in He with CH_{4} admixture and compared with previous studies. Muonium and muonic helium can be regarded as light and heavy hydrogen isotopes with an isotopic mass ratio of 36. No isotopic effect was observed within the current experimental precision.

An experimental setup for creating and imaging 4He2 * excimer cluster tracers in superfluid helium-4 via neutron-3He absorption reaction.

For the purpose of future visualization of the flow field in superfluid helium-4, clusters of the triplet state excimer 4He2 * are generated along the micro-scale recoil tracks of the neutron-absorption reaction n + 3He → 3T + p. This reaction is induced by neutron irradiation of the 3He fraction contained in natural isotopic abundance liquid helium with neutron beams either from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (JPARC)/Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility or from the Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science. These 4He2 * clusters are expected to be ideal tracers of the normal-fluid component in superfluid helium with several advantageous properties. Evidence of the excimer generation is inferred by detection of laser induced fluorescence emitted from the 4He2 * clusters excited by a purpose-built short pulse gain-switched titanium:sapphire (Ti:sa) laser operating at a wavelength of 905 nm. The setup and performance characteristics of the laser system including the Ti:sa and two continuous wave re-pumping lasers are described. Detection at the fluorescence wavelength of 640 nm is performed by using optical bandpass filtered photomultiplier tubes (PMT). Electrical noise in the PMT acquisition traces could successfully be suppressed by post-processing with a simple algorithm. Despite other laser-related backgrounds, the excimer was clearly identified by its fluorescence decay characteristics. Production of the excimer was found to be proportional to the neutron flux, adjusted via insertion of different collimators into the neutron beam. These observations suggest that the apparatus we constructed does function in the expected manner and, therefore, has the potential for groundbreaking turbulence research with superfluid helium.

Proton polarization with p-terphenyl crystal by integrated solid effect on photoexcited triplet state.

We have carried out the experiments for polarizing protons in single crystals of p-terphenyl doped with 0.1 mol% pentacene. The experiments have been performed in a magnetic field of 3 kG at room temperature or at 77 K. We obtained the polarization of 1.3% for protons in bulk at room temperature by using a pulsed dye-laser with the wavelength of 590 nm, the average power of 150 mW, and the repetition rate of 50 Hz. The polarization at 77 K reached 18% by irradiation with the dye-laser of 500 mW, 50 Hz and the same wavelength. The polarization of protons was measured by the neutron transmission method also. The result was consistent with that measured by the nuclear magnetic resonance.