Low-temperature measurements of the fraction of re-emitted positronium from a Cu(111)+S surface

Abstract

A positron beam has been utilized to measure the positronium (Ps) fraction re-emitted from a Cu(111)+S sample from 40 K to 350 K for incident energies ranging from 0.5 to 5 keV. Our results at 525 eV incident energy are compared with two recent theories from 40 K to 850 K. The Ps fraction shows only a slight positive temperature dependence below room temperature and we conclude that the positron trapping rate and probability of Ps formation at the surface are largely independent of sample temperature for Cu(111)+S. In addition we present evidence that positrons in the bulk material are not localized in shallow traps at low temperatures for well-annealed high-purity single crystals of Cu and Al.