SpecMAT, the active target for transfer reaction studies and gamma-ray spectroscopy in a strong magnetic field

A new experimental approach in studying exotic nuclei became possible with the advent of active targets. Nowadays this type of detector leads the list of the most advanced tools for extracting experimental information from nuclear reactions on rare short lived isotopes. The success of the active targets could be explained firstly by significant steps which were achieved in developing techniques of production of post accelerated radioactive ion beams (RIBs) of short lived exotic nuclei far from stability. Another important aspect which fuels the rapid growth of this field of experimental nuclear physics is a development of processing and computational electronics which is used for digitizing, acquisition, triggering and storing electrical signals generated by a detector. This PhD work is supervised by Professor Riccardo Raabe and is a part of the SpecMAT project, which is an ERC funded project. SpecMAT aims to develop an active target which will located in a strong magnetic field and will be surrounded with an array of gamma ray detectors. This magnetic field is used to overcome some challenges related to energy measurements of ions with different energy losses. Magnetic field in such detector allows for precision of energy determination up to 1 or 2% depending on the nature of an ion. The first part of this work is aimed at the development and commissioning of an ancillary scintillation detector array. This detector array will be used for spectroscopy of gamma rays emitted in transitions between low-lying states of nuclei obtained in nucleon-transfer reactions. This spectroscopy data will help to answer fundamental questions about nuclear shell model structure of nuclei located in the region around doubly-magic Ni-78 and in the region of lead (Z = 82). In the next step the ancillary detector array will be coupled to the SpecMAT detector. This step will be a part of the assembly and commissioning of SpecMAT. In begin 2017 the SpecMAT detector array will be moved to HIE-ISOLDE (CERN, Switzerland), where the magnet for SpecMAT is to be stationed. The detector will be used for carrying out experiments at HIE-ISOLDE facility in from late 2017. During these experiments the student is responsible for the functioning of the scintillation detectors and will also participate in the functioning the rest of the setup. At the final stage of this work the data analysis will be made on data from one of these first experiments with the setup.

Jaar van publicatie:2021

Toegankelijkheid:Open