Search

We investigated the reaction dynamics induced by the 7Be,8B+208Pb collisions at energies around the Coulomb barrier. Charged particles originated by both the col- lisions were detected by means of 6 ΔE-Eres telescopes of a newly developed detector array. Experimental data were analysed within the framework of the Optical Model and the total reaction cross-sections were compared together and with the 6,7Li+208Pb colli-sion data. According to the preliminary results, 7Be nucleus reactivity is rather similar to the 7Li one whereas the 8B+208Pb total reaction cross section appears to be much larger than those measured for reactions induced by the other weakly-bound projectiles on the same target.

The scattering process of weakly-bound nuclei at Coulomb barrier energies provides deep insights on the reaction dynamics induced by exotic nuclei. Within this framework, we measured for the first time the scattering process of the short-lived Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) 8B (S p = 0.1375 MeV) from a 208Pb target at 50 MeV beam energy. The 8B RIB was produced by means of the in-flight facility CRIB (RIKEN, Japan) with an average intensity on target of 10 kHz and a purity about 25%. Elastically scattering ions were detected in the angular range θc.m. = 10°-160° by means of the detector array EXPADES. A preliminary optical model analysis indicates a total reaction cross section of about 1 b, a value, once reduced, 2-3 times larger than those obtained for the reactions induced by the stable weakly-bound projectiles 6,7Li on a 208Pb target in the energy range around the Coulomb barrier.

KEK Isotope Separation System (KISS) has been developed at RIKEN to study the β-decay properties of neutron-rich isotopes with neutron numbers around N = 126 to understand the astrophysical site of r-process. These nuclei will be produced by multi-nucleon transfer reactions in neutron-rich heavy ion collisions between 136Xe beam and 198Pt target. The KISS consists of an argon gas cell combined with a laser resonance ionization technique for atomic number selection, of an ISOL mass-separation system and of a detector system for the β-decay spectroscopy of nuclei around N = 126. The argon gas cell of KISS is a key component for thermalizing (stopping and neutralizing) and accumulating the unstable nuclei, and selectively ionizing them by using laser. We have performed off-and on-line experiments to study the basic properties of the gas cell as well as KISS. We successfully extracted the laser-ionized stable 198Pt atoms from the KISS at the commissioning on-line experiments. We furthermore extracted laser-ionized unstable 199Pt atoms and confirmed that the measured half-life was in good agreement with the reported value. Now KISS is ready for lifetime measurements of Pt, Ir, and Os isotopes around N = 126.

Within the frame of the commissioning of a new experimental apparatus EXPADES we undertook the measurement of the elastic scattering angular distribution for the system 17O+208Pb at energy around the Coulomb barrier. The reaction dynamics induced by loosely bound Radioactive Ion Beams is currently being extensively studied [4]. In particular the study of the elastic scattering process allows to obtain direct information on the total reaction cross section of the exotic nuclei. In order to understand the effect of the low binding energy on the reaction mechanism it is important to compare radioactive weakly bound nuclei with stable strongly-bound nuclei. In this framework the study of the 17O+208Pb elastic scattering can be considered to be complementary to a previous measurement of the total reaction cross section for the system 17F+208Pb at energies of 86, 90.4 MeV [5, 6]. The data will be compared with those obtained for the neighboring systems 16,18O+208Pb and others available in literature.

We investigated the reaction dynamics induced by the Radioactive Ion Beams 7Be and 8B on a 208Pb target at energies around the Coulomb barrier. The two measurements are strongly interconnected, being 7Be (Sα = 1.586 MeV) the loosely bound core of the even more exotic 8B (Sp = 0.1375 MeV) nucleus. Here we summarize the present status of the data analysis for the measurement of the elastic scattering process for both reactions and the preliminary results for the optical model analysis of the collected data.

Uncertainty in the frequency precision of the planned experiment to search for a 129Xe atomic electric dipole moment is dominated by drifts in the frequency shift due to contact interaction of 129Xe with polarized Rb valence electrons. In order to suppress the frequency shift, a double-cell geometry has been adopted for the confinement of 129Xe gas. A new process has been identified to take part in the optical detection of spin precession. The parameters controlling the oscillation of the maser in this new double-cell arrangement were optimized. As a result, the frequency shift has been reduced by a factor of 10 or more from the former single-cell geometry.

KISS (KEK Isotope Separation System) has been constructed at Nishina Re-search Center (NRC) of RIKEN to study the decay properties of heavy neutron-rich iso-topes with mass number around A∼200 along the neutron magic number of N = 126 for the astrophysical interest. The isotopes of interest will be produced by multi-nucleon transfer reactions in neutron-rich heavy ion collisions (e.g. 136Xe projectile on 198Pt target). KISS consists of a gas-cell system for thermalizing (stopping and neutralizing) and fast-transporting reaction products to the gas cell exit hole, a laser system for the res-onant ionization, and a mass-separator system followed by a detection system for the decay spectroscopy. KISS will allow us to study unknown isotopes produced in weak re-action channels under low background conditions. The off-line test of the KISS has been finished. As a next step, on-line test experiments have been performed to investigate the overall efficiency and selectivity of the system as a function of the injected 56Fe beam intensity from the RIKEN Ring Cyclotron (RRC).

An experimental search for an electric dipole moment in the diamagnetic atom 129Xe is in progress through the precision measurement of spin precession frequency using an active nuclear spin maser. A 3He comagnetometer has been incorporated into the active spin maser system in order to cancel out the long-term drifts in the external magnetic field. Also, a double-cell geometry has been adopted in order to suppress the frequency shifts due to interaction with polarized Rb atoms. The first EDM measurement with the 129Xe active spin maser and the 3He comagnetometer has been conducted.

Elastic scattering has been studied for the collisions induced by 17O on 58Ni target at energies around and above the Coulomb barrier. The elastic scattering angular distributions were measured for several energies and were analyzed within the framework of the optical model to obtain total reaction cross sections. The reaction cross-sections of the tightly bound 17O were compared with those of weakly bound 17F on the same targets in order to investigate the effects of the low binding energy in the reaction dynamics.

The feasibility of the multi-nucleon transfer (MNT) reaction in the 136Xe +198Pt system was investigated for synthesizing neutron-rich heavy nuclei around mass number A∼200 of astrophysical interest. Identification of the projectile-like fragments (PLF’s) was successfully performed by using VAMOS++ spectrometer. The isotopic distributions of the PLF’s produced by two-proton stripping and pickup reactions were compared with each other, demonstrating the properties of the MNT reactions observed in the present system. The two-proton pickup channels strongly populated than the twoproton stripping channels were observed. The isotopic distributions for different total kinetic energy loss (TKEL) ranges are also discussed. The overall enhancement of the strength of the two-proton pickup compared with the two-proton stripping appears to be related to the MNT reactions with relatively moderate energy dissipation.