Precise measurement of the Bragg curve for 800 MeV/u ²³⁸U ions stopping in polyethylene and its implications for calculation of heavy ion ranges

Abstract Stopping power predictions in radiation transport codes are based on the Bethe-Bloch formula and different corrections. For very heavy ions at relativistic energies available experimental data scarce therefore verification of stopping is only possible to a limited extent. In this work, full Bragg curve for 800 MeV/u 238 U polyethylene presented. The measurements were conducted area Cave A GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt, Germany. beam was provided by SIS18 ion synchrotron. measured with setup consisting binary range shifter two large parallel plate ionization chambers. Complementary Monte Carlo simulations using FLUKA code performed compared curve. mean potential fine-tuned match primary simulations. impact Bloch Mott corrections calculation studied switching them off intentionally separate detailed description implementation formulae correction provided. Supplementary article online .