Experimental Search for μd 3 He Fusion

Abstract

The vast majority of muon catalyzed fusion research has been concerned with muonic molecules of hydrogen isotopes only, since the dynamics of higher-Z muonic atoms in general preclude the formation of molecular systems. In the specific case of hydrogen–helium mixtures, bound muonic molecular states can exist, and thus it is possible to search for the reaction μd 3He $$\xrightarrow{{\tilde \lambda f}}$$ μ+α(3.66 MeV)+p(14.64 MeV). Until recently, the theoretical predictions for the nuclear fusion rate in the μd 3He molecule, $${\tilde \lambda }$$ f , ranged over one order of magnitude, from 105 to 106 per second. An experimental upper limit has been measured for $${\tilde \lambda }$$ f in HD + 3He giving a value (<6×104 s−1 [1]). We report on the analysis of an experiment in D2 + 3He which has shown a signal coming either from the muon catalyzed reaction, or from the fusion in flight of 3He's formed from dμd fusion.