Bayesian approach to simultaneously improve the stopping cross-sections of He in Au and Ni

Abstract

Stopping cross-section curves with 1.7% uncertainty are obtained for He stopping in Au and Ni at the Bragg peak (∼1.5MeV). This is achieved by developing a novel Bayesian approach to analyze the stopping in the two target elements at once. First, the most probable stopping curves are distilled by fitting the available data in the IAEA database for the individual elements. Second, the ratio of the stopping in the two target elements is acquired with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). Finally, this ratio is used to refine the literature curves and to simultaneously reduce the uncertainties in both targets.