The $d\mu t$

In this section we shall extract, taking into account the background and various other systematic effects, the time-of-flight fusion spectra as well as the fusion yields. While the former contains the main physics we are seeking, i.e., the resonant molecular formation at epithermal energies, the latter can provide us with valuable information, as we shall see.

Our fusion measurements can be divided into four distinct categories, three for the fusion yield and one for the time spectrum measurement: (a) US fusion yield with varying US layer thickness (denoted USY measurements) , (b) DS fusion yield with varying US thickness but DS thickness fixed (Moderation yield or MODY measurements), (c) DS fusion yield with varying DS thickness but US thickness fixed (Time-of-flight yield or TOFY measurements), and (d) Time spectrum of the DS fusion for various DS thickness (Time-of-flight spectrum or TOFS measurement). Note that (a) and (b), as well as (c) and (d) use the data from mostly the same run series, respectively, but they each look at different aspects of the data. Let us first discuss the background in general before going into the specifics of the each measurements.