Measurements of range and range straggling of low energy pions and muons

Abstract

Using a stack of multiwire proportional chambers with interspersed absorbers, we have measured the range distributions of low energy pions and muons, and have obtained the mean range and range straggling (deviation about the mean) and compared them with the calculations of Janni. The percent differences between the actual incident energies and those calculated from the mean range were 2.37% for 39.3 MeV μ +, 1.13% for 37.6 MeV π +, 0.608% for 33.0 MeV π +, 0.303% for 33.0 MeV π −, and 0.854% for 37.6 MeV π −. These differences are less than the expected errors in the range calculations. The ratios of the observed to the predicted range straggling for the corresponding particles and energies were 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.4, and 1.2 (accurate to about ±10%).