An experimental investigation of light emission produced in the process of positronium formation in matter
An experimental investigation of light emission produced in the process of positronium formation in matter
Pietrow, M.; Zaleski, R.; Wagner, A.; Słomski, P.; Hirschmann, E.; Krause-Rehberg, R.; Liedke, M. O.; Butterling, M.; Weinberger, D.
The excess energy emitted during the positronium (Ps) formation in condensed matter may be released as light. Spectroscopic analysis of this light can be a new method of studying the electronic properties of materials. We report the first experimental attempt, according to our knowledge, to verify the existence of this emission process. As a result, the possibility of the emission of photons during Ps formation is within the experimental uncertainty in two different solids: an n-alkane and porous silica. However, it seems that the Ps formation on the alkane surface is not accompanied by the emission of photons with energy in the detection range of 1.6 – 3.8 eV. Various processes that can influence the energy of the photon emitted during the Ps formation are discussed to elucidate this issue. To aid future experiments, equations were developed to estimate the expected ratio of light emission events to annihilation events with the presence or absence of a photon during the Ps formation.
Keywords: positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy; ELBE; MePS; EPOS; porosity; positronium
Involved research facilities
- Radiation Source ELBE DOI: 10.17815/jlsrf-2-58
- P-ELBE
Related publications
- DOI: 10.17815/jlsrf-2-58 is cited by this (Id 32571) publication
-
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 23(2021)19, 11264-11271
Online First (2021) DOI: 10.1039/d1cp00755f
Cited 2 times in Scopus
Downloads
- Final Draft PDF 1,4 MB Secondary publication
Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-32571