Measurements of the longitudinal depolarization of¹⁹⁸Au-β-particles within the source

Abstract

Depolarization measurements are reported for 0.45, 0.54 and 0.75 MeVβ-particles emitted from¹⁹⁸Au sources up to 17mg/cm² thick. The degree of polarization is measured by using a double scattering apparatus and very thin³²P samples as reference. The observed depolarization proves to be larger than estimated by theoretical calculations.

Moreover it is confirmed that the polarization values of the electrons emitted in theβ-decay of¹⁹⁸Au (2⁻→2⁺ transition into the 0.412 MeV level of¹⁹⁸Hg) and of³²P do not differ significantly.