The article presents the results of the experimental research
on precision measurement of total stopping range and energy
deposition function of intermediate and heavy ion beams in cold
solid matter. The “thick target” method proves to
be appropriate for this purpose. Two types of detectors were
developed which provide an error of the total stopping range
measurement of less than 3% and of the beam energy deposition
function of about 7%. The experiments with 58Ni+26,
197Au+65, and 238U+72 ion
beams in the energy range 100–300 MeV/u were performed on
SIS-18 (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt)
in 1999–2001. The measured data on the total stopping
ranges for the above ion species in bulk and foiled Al and Cu
targets are presented. The investigation showed that there is
a noticeable discrepancy between the measured stopping ranges
and the theoretically predicted ones. Also, it was shown that
realistic ion energy deposition depends on the type of target
(bulk or foiled). Further investigation is necessary to clarify
the latter.