Polarized neutrons observed nanometer-thick crystalline ice plates in frozen glucose solution

Kumada, Takayuki; Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Miura, Daisuke; Sekine, Yurina; Motokawa, Ryuhei; Hiroi, Kosuke; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Oku, Takayuki; Oishi, Kazuki*; Morikawa, Toshiaki*; et al.

Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (Internet), 14(34), p.7638 - 7643, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01448

The structure of nano-ice crystals in rapidly frozen glucose solution was elucidated by using spin-contrast-variation small-angle neutron scattering, which distinguishes the nano-ice crystal signal from the frozen amorphous solution signal by the polarization-dependent neutron scattering. The analysis revealed that the nano-ice crystals form a planar structure with a diameter exceeding tens of nanometers and a thickness of 1 nm, which is close to the critical nucleation size. This result suggests that the glucose molecules are preferentially bound to a specific face of nano-ice crystals, and then block the crystal growth perpendicular to that face.

Time evolution calculation of muon catalysed fusion; Emission of recycling muons from a two-layer hydrogen film

Yamashita, Takuma*; Okutsu, Kenichi*; Kino, Yasushi*; Nakashima, Ryota*; Miyashita, Konan*; Yasuda, Kazuhiro*; Okada, Shinji*; Sato, Motoyasu*; Oka, Toshitaka; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; et al.

Fusion Engineering and Design, 169, p.112580_1 - 112580_5, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112580

A muon () having 207 times larger mass of electron and the same charge as the electron has been known to catalyze a nuclear fusion between deuteron (d) and triton (t). These two nuclei are bound by and form a muonic hydrogen molecular ion, dt. Due to the short inter-nuclear distance of dt, the nuclear fusion, d +t + n + 17.6 MeV, occurs inside the molecule. This reaction is called muon catalyzed fusion (CF). Recently, the interest on CF is renewed from the viewpoint of applications, such as a source of high-resolution muon beam and mono-energetic neutron beam. In this work, we report a time evolution calculation of CF in a two-layered hydrogen isotope target.

Recent update of AMATERAS; A Cold-neutron disk-chopper spectrometer

Nakajima, Kenji; Kawamura, Seiko; Kofu, Maiko; Murai, Naoki; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Wakai, Daisuke*

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011089_1 - 011089_7, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011089

The recent update of AMATERAS, a cold-neutron disk-chopper spectrometer at Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), is reported. AMATERAS has been operating for a decade. Since 2017, some updates have been done or are underway, which include installing new detectors, replacing the vacuum system of the scattering chamber, and other works. We are also working on the re-investigation of the resolution function. Demonstration measurements were carried out at 1MW test operations done in 2018 and 2019. Plans of upgrading the spectrometer are currently being considered.

Development of negative muonium ion source for muon acceleration

Kitamura, Ryo; Bae, S.*; Choi, S.*; Fukao, Yoshinori*; Iinuma, Hiromi*; Ishida, Katsuhiko*; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; Kim, B.*; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Mibe, Tsutomu*; et al.

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (Internet), 24(3), p.033403_1 - 033403_9, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.24.033403

A negative muonium ion (Mu) source using an aluminum foil target was developed as a low-energy muon source. An experiment to produce Mu ions was conducted to evaluate the performance of the Mu ion source. The measured event rate of Mu ions was Mu/s when the event rate of the incident muon beam was /s. The formation probability, defined as the ratio of the Mu ions to the incident muons on the Al target, was . This Mu ion source boosted the development of the muon accelerator, and the practicality of this low-energy muon source obtained using a relatively simple apparatus was demonstrated.

Horizontal line nodes in SrRuO proved by spin resonance

Iida, Kazuki*; Kofu, Maiko; Suzuki, Katsuhiro*; Murai, Naoki; Kawamura, Seiko; Kajimoto, Ryoichi; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Ishikado, Motoyuki*; Hasegawa, Shunsuke*; Masuda, Takatsugu*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 89(5), p.053702_1 - 053702_5, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.89.053702

Development of a bunch-width monitor for low-intensity muon beam below a few MeV

Sue, Yuki*; Yotsuzuka, Mai*; Futatsukawa, Kenta*; Hasegawa, Kazuo; Iijima, Toru*; Iinuma, Hiromi*; Inami, Kenji*; Ishida, Katsuhiko*; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; Kitamura, Ryo; et al.

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (Internet), 23(2), p.022804_1 - 022804_7, 2020/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.23.022804

A destructive monitor to measure the longitudinal bunch width of a low-energy and low-intensity muon beam was developed. This bunch-width monitor (BWM) employed microchannel plates to detect a single muon with high time resolution. In addition, constant-fraction discriminators were adopted to suppress the time-walk effect. The time resolution was measured to be 65 ps in rms using a picosecond-pulsed laser. This resolution satisfied the requirements of the muon linac of the J-PARC E34 experiment. We measured the bunch width of negative-muonium ions accelerated with a radio-frequency quadrupole using the BWM. The bunch width was successfully measured to be 54 11 ns, which is consistent with the simulation.

Negative muonium ion production with a C12A7 electride film

Otani, Masashi*; Fukao, Yoshinori*; Futatsukawa, Kenta*; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; Matoba, Shiro*; Mibe, Tsutomu*; Miyake, Yasuhiro*; Shimomura, Koichiro*; Yamazaki, Takayuki*; Hasegawa, Kazuo; et al.

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 1350, p.012067_1 - 012067_6, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1350/1/012067

Negative muonium atom (ee, Mu) has unique features stimulating potential interesting for several scientific fields. Since its discovery in late 1980's in vacuum, it has been discussed that the production efficiency would be improved using a low-work function material. C12A7 was a well-known insulator as a constituent of alumina cement, but was recently confirmed to exhibit electric conductivity by electron doping. The C12A7 electride has relatively low-work function (2.9 eV). In this paper, the negative muonium production measurement with several materials including a C12A7 electride film will be presented. Measured production rate of the Mu were 10/s for all the Al, electride, and SUS target. Significant enhancement on electride target was not observed, thus it is presumed that the surface condition should be more carefully treated. There was no material dependence of the Mu averaged energy: it was 0.20.1keV.

Background issues encountered by cold-neutron chopper spectrometer AMATERAS

Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Nakajima, Kenji; Kawamura, Seiko; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Wakai, Daisuke*; Aoyama, Kazuhiro*; Iwahashi, Takaaki*; Kambara, Wataru*

Physica B; Condensed Matter, 564, p.45 - 53, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2019.02.015

Details of the background, that is, unwanted signals accumulated by the data acquisition system of neutron instruments, observed by the cold-neutron chopper spectrometer AMATERAS installed at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at J-PARC are reported. In the design phase of AMATERAS, we carefully considered the achievement of high signal-to-noise ratio, and possible countermeasures were implemented. Actually, recent scientific outputs from AMATERAS indicates that the spectrometer is one of excellent neutron instruments with low background. In spite of that, in nine years of AMATERAS operation, we have encountered unwanted signals due to various reasons, including gamma-rays emitted at materials on or near the beam line including the sample itself, scattered neutrons from the beam line devices, air scattering, electronic noise in data acquisition system, cosmic rays, T0 burst, and other unknown sources. In this report, we discuss the background observed by AMATERAS, especially in the conditions of without samples, comprehensively. The possible sources of these signals and the countermeasures considered against the above sources are discussed, which may be helpful to those who are engaged in other existing or planned neutron-scattering instruments.

Development of the longitudinal beam profile monitor with high time resolution for realization of low-emittance muon beam in the J-PARC E34 muon g-2/EDM experiment

Yotsuzuka, Mai*; Iijima, Toru*; Iinuma, Hiromi*; Inami, Kenji*; Otani, Masashi*; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; Kitamura, Ryo; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Saito, Naohito; Shimomura, Koichiro*; et al.

Proceedings of 16th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.814 - 817, 2019/07

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2019/proceedings/PDF/THPI/THPI031.pdf

The J-PARC E34 experiment aims to measure the muon anomalous magnetic moment and the electric dipole moment with a high precision. In this experiment, thermal muonium is produced and ionized by laser resonance to generate ultra-slow muons, which are then accelerated in a multistage muon linac. In order to satisfy the experimental requirements, suppression of the emittance growth during the acceleration is necessary. Because the main cause of the emittance growth is beam mismatching between the accelerating stages, the transverse and longitudinal beam monitoring is important. The longitudinal beam monitor has to measure the bunch length with the resolution equivalent to tens of picoseconds, which is 1% of the acceleration phase of 324 MHz. In addition, it should be sensitive to single muon because the beam intensity is limited during the commissioning phase. To realize above requirements, we are developing a longitudinal beam monitor with a micro channel plate, and the test bench to evaluate the monitor performance. So far, the time resolution of the beam monitor was obtained to be 65 ps in RMS including the jitter on the test bench. We also succeeded in measuring the longitudinal bunch size of the muon beam accelerated by RFQ using the beam monitor. In this paper, the results of the performance evaluation for this beam monitor are reported.

J-PARC muon g-2/EDM experiment; Development of the spin rotator for the low emittance muon beam

Yasuda, Hiromasa*; Iinuma, Hiromi*; Otani, Masashi*; Kawamura, Naritoshi*; Kitamura, Ryo; Kondo, Yasuhiro; Saito, Naohito; Sue, Yuki*; Nakazawa, Yuga*; Matoba, Shiro*; et al.

Proceedings of 16th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.371 - 375, 2019/07

https://www.pasj.jp/web_publish/pasj2019/proceedings/PDF/WEPH/WEPH030.pdf

Muon linac is developed for the muon g-2/EDM experiment at J-PARC. In this experiment, ultra slow muon is accelerated to a momentum of 300 MeV/c with the four linac structures. This scheme offers new opportunity for precise measurements; it enables us to reverse muon polarization at early stage of acceleration. The reversal of polarization is a common method of precision polarization measurements as it can be used to identify or reduce systematic uncertainties dependent on time. It is necessary to accelerate muons and flip its spin without substantial emittance growth for the experimental requirement. As one of the candidates for our spin rotator, we are developing the Wien-filter type. The emittance growth is +64% in x-x' plane and +56% in y-y' plane, but it is revealed it would be reduced by tuning electric field to + 47% in x-x' plane and + 2% in y-y' plane. In this paper, the design of the Wien-filter type spin rotator for the low emittance muon beam will be presented.