Stopping Power of Matter for Ions

Graphs, Data, Comments and Programs

Last update: April 10, 2016 (see Updates)

This site was created by Prof. Helmut Paul (1929-2015). Since 1990, he had been collecting data on stopping powers for light ions, while his colleagues at the University of Linz measured them. He plotted the data versus energy/nucleon, compared them to each other and to the theoretical or semi-empirical curves available in the literature. Together with A. Schinner, he produced a program MSTAR that predicts the stopping powers for ions from ₃Li to ₁₈Ar (most recent version 3.12 of 2004). Their program JUDGE was used to compare stopping tables and experimental data in a statistical manner (see, e.g., papers here).

In recent years, the collection has been enlarged to include all ions. It treats the electronic stopping power (we assume that “nuclear” stopping has been subtracted, but that need not always be true). It considers ordinary cold matter, not the plasma state. It considers gases and amorphous or polycrystalline solids, elements and compounds.

Since 2009, tables of Optical Oscillator Strengths have been listed for several elements, see here.

Detailed information on the content and organization of the database is provided on the Introduction page available also on the left-hand menu bar. Users of the data in this database are strongly advised to cite the original experimental and theoretical papers as well as this database.

In 2015, the collection was taken over by the Nuclear Data Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Dr Claudia Montanari, from the Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics (CONICET and University of Buenos Aires, Argentina), is collaborating with the IAEA on the updating of the database.

Sadly, Helmut passed away on 21 December 2015. He will be dearly missed, but he will always be remembered through his legacy: the stopping power database. A personal account of life as a physicist by Helmut Paul can be found here.

Please send your questions, comments and suggestions regarding...

...methods, graphs and data to:
Dr Claudia Montanari / Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio (CONICET-UBA)
Email: mclaudia@iafe.uba.ar

...this site to:
International Atomic Energy Agency / Nuclear Data Section
Email: nds.contact-point@iaea.org