Enhanced Ps-Ps Interactions due to Quantum Confinement

Abstract

Slow positrons implanted into a porous silica film may efficiently form positronium (Ps) atoms that diffuse through a network of interconnected pores. At high Ps densities, the long lifetime of ortho-positronium atoms is reduced due to Ps-Ps spin dependent interactions at a rate that implies an effective free-space scattering cross section, σ(e) = (3.4 ± 0.5) × 10(-14) cm(-2), at least 25 times larger than the theoretical value. This enhanced interaction rate may be explained if the quantum confinement of Ps results in interpore tunneling rates that depend critically on the distribution of pore sizes, so that rather than uniformly sampling the porous matrix Ps diffusion is limited to a small subset of the pores.