Energy loss and straggling of MeV Si ions in gases

We present measurements of energy loss and straggling of Si ions in gases. An energy range from 0.5 to 12 MeV/u was covered using the 6 MV EN tandem accelerator at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and the K130 cyclotron accelerator facility at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Our energy-loss data compare well with calculation based on the SRIM and PASS code. The new straggling measurements support a pronounced peak in He gas at around 4 MeV/u predicted by recent theoretical calculations. The straggling curve structure in the other gases (N2, Ne, Ar, Kr) is relatively flat in the covered energy range. Although there is a general agreement between the straggling data and the theoretical calculations, the experimental uncertainties are too large to confirm or exclude the predicted weak multi-peak structure in the energy-loss straggling.