Strong solid state effects in low energy scattering of p mu atoms in solid
hydrogen are reported and analyzed. Such effects have been observed in TRIU
MF experiment E742 where muons are stopped in thin frozen (3 K) layers of h
ydrogen. Emission of low energy p mu atoms from the hydrogen layer into adj
acent vacuum was much higher than expected, based on calculations which ign
ored the solid nature of hydrogen. Monte Carlo simulations, performed using
the scattering cross-sections with solid state effects taken into account,
show the important role of the coherent elastic Bragg scattering in the di
ffusion of p mu atoms. For p mu energies lower than the Bragg cut-off limit
(similar to 2 meV) the total scattering cross-section falls by several ord
ers of magnitude, the hydrogen target becomes transparent and the emission
of cold p mu atoms takes place.