Improving the beam quality of the low-energy muon beamline at Paul Scherrer Institute: Characterization of ultrathin carbon foils

The low-energy muon (LEM) beamline at the Paul Scherrer Institute currently stands as the world’s only facility providing a continuous beam of low-energy muons with keV energies for conducting muon spin rotation experiments on a nanometer depth scale in heterostructures and near a sample’s surface. As such, optimizing the beam quality to reach its full potential is of paramount importance. One of the ongoing efforts is dedicated to improving the already applied technique of single muon tagging through the detection of secondary electrons emerging from an ultrathin carbon foil. In this work, we present the results from installing a thinner foil with a nominal thickness of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mrow><a:mn>0.5</a:mn><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mi mathvariant="normal">μ</a:mi><a:mi mathvariant="normal">g</a:mi></a:mrow><a:mrow><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:msup><a:mrow><a:mi>cm</a:mi></a:mrow><a:mrow><a:mo>−</a:mo><a:mn>2</a:mn></a:mrow></a:msup></a:mrow></a:math> and compare its performance to that of the previously installed foil with a nominal thickness of <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><e:mrow><e:mrow><e:mn>2.0</e:mn><e:mtext> </e:mtext><e:mtext> </e:mtext><e:mi mathvariant="normal">μ</e:mi><e:mi mathvariant="normal">g</e:mi><e:mtext> </e:mtext></e:mrow><e:mrow><e:msup><e:mrow><e:mi>cm</e:mi></e:mrow><e:mrow><e:mo>−</e:mo><e:mn>2</e:mn></e:mrow></e:msup></e:mrow></e:mrow></e:math>. Our findings indicate improved beam quality, characterized by smaller beam spots, reduced energy loss and straggling of the muons, and enhanced tagging efficiency. Additionally, we introduce a method utilizing blue laser irradiation for cleaning the carbon foil, further improving and maintaining its characteristics.