A Liquid-Tritium Target for Studying pt mu-Fusion Reactions

摘要

A cryogenic liquid-tritium target was developed by RFNC-VNIIEF for studying pt mu fusion. In 2016, it was regularly used for more than 270 h on the muon channel of the JINR Phasotron, thus confirming the compliance with the specified requirements and the correctness of the proposed engineering solutions. At a maximum operating pressure of 4 MPa, an irradiated ampoule volume as large as 80 cm(3), and three lines of protection, the target was able to liquefy up to 40 L of a hydrogen-isotope mixture and maintain a temperature in the range of 20-22 K with an accuracy of +/- 0.05 K or better. Based on the results of the pt mu-fusion experiments, the reaction channel with the emission of electron-positron pairs was detected for the first time and evidence for the existence of a new reaction channel with the emission of a pair of gamma-ray photons was obtained.