Steps towards the hyperfine splitting measurement of the muonic hydrogen ground state: pulsed muon beam and detection system characterization

TL;DR

This paper describes the development and testing of a detection system for measuring the hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen, focusing on detector characterization using a pulsed muon beam.

Contribution

It presents the design, setup, and characterization results of detectors crucial for high-precision hyperfine splitting measurements in muonic hydrogen.

Findings

Successful characterization of Germanium and Lanthanum Bromide detectors

Effective use of a pulsed muon beam for target testing

Validation of detector performance for future hyperfine splitting experiments

Abstract

The high precision measurement of the hyperfine splitting of the muonic-hydrogen atom ground state with pulsed and intense muon beam requires careful technological choices both in the construction of a gas target and of the detectors. In June 2014, the pressurized gas target of the FAMU experiment was exposed to the low energy pulsed muon beam at the RIKEN RAL muon facility. The objectives of the test were the characterization of the target, the hodoscope and the X-ray detectors. The apparatus consisted of a beam hodoscope and X-rays detectors made with high purity Germanium and Lanthanum Bromide crystals. In this paper the experimental setup is described and the results of the detector characterization are presented.