Pion Diffusion Studies Using Muon Channeling at High Temperatures

Abstract

During the last few years, successful experiments performed using π ⁺/μ ⁺ channeling^1,2 in metals and semiconductors have proved the potential usefulness of this technique to probe the bulk of crystalline solids, on one hand, and to study the diffusion properties of positive pions, on the other. The latter application is specially important because the pions can be considered as light isotopes of hydrogen so that the information gained is extremely useful in technologically important research on hydrogen in metals. From the fundamental research viewpoint, it provides a new versatile method to study the quantum behavior in diffusion properties of these particles in solids.