Neutron radiography of a static density gradient of 3He gas at cryogenic temperatures

We demonstrate a stationary helium gas density gradient which is needed for a proposed novel low-energy μ+ beam line. In a closed system with constant pressure the corresponding density gradient is only a function of the temperature. In a neutron radiography experiment two gas cells with different geometries were filled with 3He gas at constant pressures of about 10 mbar. Temperatures in the range from 6K to 40K were applied and density distributions with a maximum to minimum density ratio of larger than 3 were realized. The distribution was investigated employing the strongly neutron absorbing isotope 3He. A simple one-dimensional approach derived from Fourier׳s law describes the obtained gas density with a deviation <2%.