Muon detector sample data

Complete software

Our muon counters are delivered with a complete software suite that allows you to acquire, analyse and save data without the need for any programming on your side. However, we do encourage users to make use of the fact that the software is open-source, and add or create their own application specific code.

Below we show a few typical examples of data that were acquired with our muon counter systems.

Muon pulses - Seeing is believing

The software of the muon counter systems displays singles and coincidence pulses as oscilloscope traces directly on the computer screen. Students can observe passing muons in real time and even see a muon decay.

Fig. 1, above, shows a huge pulse from a stopped muon, which decayed some 1.3μs later. The energetic decay electron (or positron) creates the second pulse.

Fig. 2, right, shows coincident traces caused by a muon passing through both muon paddles in a 2-paddle system.

Muon life time

For this experiment we used a 1-paddle system. We set the paddle on its side and measured stopping muons for a period of 23 hours. using a software trigger, we only saved traces with good muon decay candidates to disk.

In the analysis we employed digital signal processing to measure the time between two muon pulses (such as shown in fig. 1).

We then sorted the events by decay time and computed the cumulative distribution F(t) = number of muon decay candidates with a decay time less than t.

In fig. 3, right, we plot the distribution (red) and the least squares fit (blue). The fit function uses the model F(t) = (R*t + M*(1-exp(-t/τ)), where R is the random arrival rate of muons and M is the number of decaying muons in this data set. The muon-decay time is τ All three parameters, R, M, and τ were allowed to vary in the fit.

With data acquired over a 23-hour period we measured some 580 muon decays and obtained a muon life time of τ = (2.217 ± 0.017)μs, in excellent agreement with the accepted (vacuum) value of 2.197μs.

Selection Guide

Single paddle system

• Lowest cost
• Measures muon count rate
• Detects stopped muons and measures muon life time

Two-paddle system

• Measure muons as singles or in coincidence
• Measures singles and coincident count rates
• Use to determine direction-dependent cosmic muon flux
• Detects stopped muons and measures muon life time

Ordering information

All muon counter systems