Search

We applied the thick target inverse kinematics method for a study of resonances decaying through neutron emission. In this approach, the time of flight of the resonant neutrons is defined by the movement of the heavy ions of low-energy beams through an extended target. As a test, we used a well-studied, because of its role in the s process in stars, ^{13}C(α,n) reaction. The measurements demonstrated the high efficiency of the approach. The energy resolution for the ^{13}C(α,n) excitation function was ≈60keV, the largest contributions coming from the time structure of the beam and the thickness of the neutron detector. The measurements revealed a surprising disagreement with the R-matrix calculations based on the parameters of the recent analysis.

The ^{7}H system was populated in the ^{2}H(^{8}He,^{3}He)^{7}H reaction with a 26 AMeV ^{8}He beam. The ^{7}H missing mass energy spectrum, the ^{3}H energy and angular distributions in the ^{7}H decay frame were reconstructed. The ^{7}H missing mass spectrum shows a peak, which can be interpreted either as unresolved 5/2^{+} and 3/2^{+} doublet or one of these states at 6.5(5) MeV. The data also provide indications of the 1/2^{+} ground state of ^{7}H located at 1.8(5) MeV with quite a low population cross section of ∼25  μb/sr within angular range θ_{c.m.}≃(17°-27°).