Laboratory tests for MIR light detection and transport with specialty optical fibres

Abstract

The FAMU (Fisica degli Atomi Muonici) experiment at the RIKEN RAL pulsed muon facility will measure the proton Zemach radius with high precision, thus contributing to the solution of the so-called “proton radius puzzle”. The situation is now confused and new measurements will help reduce the discrepancy as measured with electrons or muons. To this aim, FAMU will make use of a high-intensity pulsed muon beam at RIKEN-RAL impinging on a cryogenic hydrogen target and a tunable Mid-infrared (MIR) laser emitting at about 6.78 μm, to measure the hyperfine (HFS) splitting of the 1S state of muonic hydrogen. The injection of light into the cryogenic target and its monitoring via dedicated MIR sensors is an asset for the experiment. A possible solution is via specialty MIR fibres based on hollow core waveguides or polycrystalline fibres. Two dedicated setups based on pulsed QCL lasers, from Alpes Laser, emitting around 6.78 μm have been used to study the fibre attenuation while the high energy laser specifically developed for the FAMU project has been used to study the damage threshold at high energies. The alignment of MIR laser radiation into an optical cavity presents criticalities due to geometrical constraints. Its control requires the use of small and sensitive detectors. The results obtained with a quantum IR sensor with an integrated circuit for signal processing are reported.