µCF experiments in thin deuterium films and progress towards slow µ− production

Muon-catalyzed fusion was investigated in thin solid deuterium films to determine the experimental feasibility of slow µ− production by detection of dd fusion protons as well as slow µ− collection utilizing a large-acceptance magnetic spectrometer. The spatial distribution of the fusion reaction in the film was extracted, and an optimum thickness for slow µ− emission was deduced. Collected 10 keV µ− were also successfully detected. However, the dd fusion yield being insufficient, we were not able to distinguish slow µ− via µCF from degraded µ−.