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International audience; The Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) has been installed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL), Italy. In this installation, AGATA will consist, at the beginning, of 13 AGATA triple clusters (ATCs) with an angular coverage of 1π, and progressively the number of ATCs will increase up to a 2π angular coverage. This setup will exploit both stable and radioactive ion beams delivered by the Tandem–PIAVE-ALPI accelerator complex and the SPES facility. The new implementation of AGATA at LNL will be used in two different configurations, firstly one coupled to the PRISMA large-acceptance magnetic spectrometer and lately a second one at Zero Degrees, along the beam line. These two configurations will allow us to cover a broad physics program, using different reaction mechanisms, such as Coulomb excitation, fusion-evaporation, transfer and fission at energies close to the Coulomb barrier. These setups have been designed to be coupled with a large variety of complementary detectors such as charged particle detectors, neutron detectors, heavy-ion detectors, high-energy γ-ray arrays, cryogenic and gasjet targets and the plunger device for lifetime measurements. We present in this paper the conceptual design, characteristics and performance figures of this implementation of AGATA at LNL.

International audience; The decay of the 21.47-MeV stretched resonance in 13C, arising from p3/2→d5/2 nucleon excitation coupled to maximum spin, was investigated in a (p,p′) experiment at 135 MeV proton bombarding energy, performed at the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (CCB) at IFJ PAN in Krakow. First experimental information on the proton and neutron decay branches from this state was obtained by using coincidence measurement of protons inelastically scattered on a 13C target and γ rays from daughter nuclei, namely, 12B (proton decay) and 12C (neutron decay). The main branches lead to the Jπ=2+, first-excited state at 0.953 MeV in 12B, and to the Jπ=1+, T=1 level at 15.110 MeV in 12C. The results were compared with predictions from the Gamow Shell Model (GSM), which was used to describe the stretched resonance in terms of its energy, width, electromagnetic transition strengths and decay pattern. A very good agreement was obtained between the measured and calculated properties of the 21.47-MeV stretched resonance in 13C, demonstrating the high-quality and precision of the GSM wave function calculations, which include coupling to the resonant and non-resonant particle continuum.

The GALILEO γ -ray spectrometer has been constructed at the Legnaro National Laboratory of INFN (LNL-INFN). It can be coupled to advanced ancillary devices which allows nuclear structure studies employing the variety of in-beam γ -ray spectroscopy methods. Such studies benefit from reactions induced by the intense stable beams delivered by the Tandem-ALPI-PIAVE accelerator complex and by the radioactive beams which will be provided by the SPES facility. In this paper we outline two experiments performed within the experimental campaign at GALILEO coupled to the EUCLIDES Si-ball and the Neutron Wall array. The first one was aimed at spectroscopic studies in A=31 mirror nuclei and the second one at measurements of lifetimes of excited states in nuclei in the vicinity of 100 Sn.

A novel Monte Carlo technique has been developed to determine lifetimes of excited states in the tens-to-hundreds femtoseconds range in products of low-energy heavy-ion binary reactions, with complex velocity distributions. The method is based on a detailed study of Doppler-broadened $$\gamma $$ γ -ray lineshapes. Its relevance is demonstrated in connection with the $$^{18}\text {O}(7.0\, \text {MeV/u})+\,^{181}\text {Ta}$$ 18 O ( 7.0 MeV/u ) + 181 Ta experiment, performed at GANIL with the AGATA+VAMOS+PARIS setup, to study neutron-rich O, C, N, ... nuclei. Excited states in $$^{17}\text {O}$$ 17 O and $$^{19}\text {O}$$ 19 O , with known lifetimes, are used to validate the method over the $$\sim 20{-}400\,\text {fs}$$ ∼ 20 - 400 fs lifetime-sensitivity range. Emphasis is given to the unprecedented position resolution provided by $$\gamma $$ γ -tracking arrays, which turns out to be essential for reaching the required accuracy in Doppler-shift correction. The technique is anticipated to be an important tool for lifetime investigations in exotic neutron-rich nuclei, produced with intense ISOL-type beams.

GALILEO, a new 4 π high-resolution γ -detection array, based on HPGe detectors, has been developed and installed at the Legnaro National Laboratories. The GALILEO array greatly benefits from a fully-digital read-out chain, customized DAQ, and a variety of complementary detectors to improve the resolving power by the detection of particles, ions or high-energy γ -ray transitions. In this work, a full description of the array, including electronics and DAQ, is presented together with its complementary instrumentation.

The GALILEO ?-ray spectrometer, installed at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL), benefits from intense stable beams provided by the Tandem-ALPI-PIAVE accelerator complex and from radioactive beams to be delivered in the near future by the SPES facility. The spectrometer is complemented with a variety of ancillary devices to allow for nuclear structure and reaction studies. The 4? Si-ball array EUCLIDES coupled to the GALILEO ?-ray spectrometer represents one of the commonly used setup for experiments aiming at spectroscopic studies. High-efficiency detection of light-charged particles in a fusion–evaporation reaction guarantees good discrimination of different reaction channels and provides essential information for the kinematic reconstruction. In this paper we discuss a configuration of the EUCLIDES array developed for the lifetime measurements of nuclear excited states populated in a fusion–evaporation reaction. In such a configuration a part of the EUCLIDES detectors is disassembled allowing for the installation of a plunger device in the reaction chamber. The reduced configuration of EUCLIDES provides high detection efficiency necessary for reliable light charged-particle discrimination. We report on the commissioning experiment focused on the 58Ni(58Ni,3p)113I reaction. The lifetimes of 11/2? and 15/2? states were measured by applying the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift method to be equal to 206(20) ps and 7.9(12) ps correspondingly and were in good agreement with the values cited in the literature. Thus, the combination of the GALILEO and EUCLIDES arrays, and the plunger device has resulted in a powerful experimental setup to determine lifetimes of excited states in neutron-deficient nuclei in the picosecond range. © 2020 Elsevier B.V., Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo Narodowe Centrum Nauki, NCN: 2017/25/B/ST2/01569 Narodowym Centrum Nauki, NCN, The authors would like to thank the technical staff of the LNL-INFN facility for their assistance in providing excellent operation of the XTU-Tandem accelerator. The authors wish to acknowledge the support of local engineers P. Cocconi and R. Isocrate. The work of G. Jaworski was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (NCN) (grant no. 2017/25/B/ST2/01569 ). A. Goasduff acknowledges the support of the CARIPARO foundation under the Starting Grant 2017 .

In a fusion-evaporation reaction, nuclei are produced by evaporating light-charged particles and neutrons from the compound nucleus. Typically, a nucleus of interest is produced as a result of a part of the total cross-section and, in order to guarantee a good channel discrimination, a particle detector, like the EUCLIDES $4\pi$ Si-ball array, is necessary. EUCLIDES has been quoted in more than a hundred publications resulting from many experiments performed in combination with the EUROBALL and GASP $\gamma$-ray spectrometers. The present paper reports on the upgraded version of EUCLIDES, that is presently coupled to the new GALILEO $\gamma$-ray spectrometer, installed at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, INFN. The design, characteristics and performance of the EUCLIDES array are presented and discussed.

The position sensitivity of a thick, cylindrical and continuous 3” x 3” (7.62 cm x 7.62 cm) LaBr3:Ce crystal was studied using a 1 mm collimated beam of 662 keV gamma rays from a 400 MBq intense 137Cs source and a spectroscopic photomultiplier (PMT) (HAMAMATSU R6233-100SEL). The PMT entrance window was covered by black absorber except for a small window 1 cm x 1 cm wide. A complete scan of the detector over a 0.5 cm step grid was performed for three positions of the 1 cm x 1 cm window. For each configuration the energy spectrum was measured and the peak centroid, the FWHM, the area and peak asymmetry of the 662 keV gamma transition were analyzed. The data show that, even in a 3” thick LaBr3:Ce crystal with diffusive surfaces the position of the full energy peak centroid depends on the source position. We verified that, on average, the position of the full energy peak centroids measured in the three 1 cm x 1 cm window configurations is sufficient for the correct identification of the collimated gamma source position.

An in-beam test of two pixel-type silicon detectors of the TRACE detector project has been performed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (Italy). The aim was to investigate the lowest kinetic energy values at which isotopic identification of heavy-ion reactions products with mass $ A\sim 10$ is possible, by using a single-layer silicon detector. Two separate read-out chains, analog and digital, were used, and the Pulse Shape Analysis technique was employed to obtain the particle identification matrices for the digitally processed data. The results confirmed the high capability of the Pulse Shape Analysis method which can be used for light ion identification, with performances similar to the analog approach. Separation in both charge and mass was obtained for Li and Be isotopes, however, the presence of a significant background from alpha particles severely limited the data analysis in the lower energy region. Due to this effect, the identification of the light products (7, 6Li isotopes) could be possible down to $ \sim 24.5$ MeV only, while the 9, 7Be isotopes were separable down to $ \sim 29$ MeV. This gives the value of $ < 4$ MeV/nucleon as the lowest kinetic energy for light products identification by using the pixel-type detectors of the TRACE project, in the present experimental conditions.

L. Pellegri et al. ; 5 pags. ; 6 figs. ; open access article under the CC BY license. Funded by SCOAP3, © 2014 The Authors. The γ decay from the high-lying states of 124Sn was measured using the inelastic scattering of 17O at 340 MeV. The emitted γ rays were detected with high resolution with the AGATA demonstrator array and the scattered ions were detected in two segmented δE-E silicon telescopes. The angular distribution was measured both for the γ rays and the scattered 17O ions. An accumulation of E1 strength below the particle threshold was found and compared with previous data obtained with (γ, γ') and (α, α'γ) reactions. The present results of elastic scattering, and excitation of E2 and E1 states were analysed using the DWBA approach. From this comprehensive description the isoscalar component of the 1- excited states was extracted. The obtained values are based on the comparison of the data with DWBA calculations including a form factor deduced using a microscopic transition density., Grant No. 2011/03/B/ST2/01894; (iii) the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU; (iv) the US NSF Grant PHY-1204486; and the German BMBF under Grant 06KY9136.

The EXPADES (EXotic PArticle DEtection System) detector array consists of 16 Double Side Silicon Strip Detectors (DSSSD) with active areas of 64 × 64 mm 2 , arranged in 8 ΔE (40/50 μm)–E (300 μm) telescopes. All detector faces are segmented into 32 × 2-mm wide strips, ensuring a 2 × 2 mm 2 pixel configuration. Eight ionization chambers can be alternatively used as ΔE stages or, if needed, as an additional third layer for more complex triple telescopes. The signals from silicon ΔE layers and from ionization chambers are read by standard electronics, while innovative 32-channel ASIC chips are employed for the readout of the E stages. The results of off-line tests with alpha sources and from the first in-beam experiment with a 17 O beam are presented.

The 16-channel fast stretcher BaFPro module, originally developed for processing signals of Barium Fluoride scintillators, has been modified to make a high performing analog pulse-shape analysis of signals from the NE213 liquid scintillators of the EDEN neutron detector array. The module produces two Gaussian signals, whose amplitudes are proportional to the height of the fast component of the output light and to the total energy deposited into the scintillator, respectively. An in-beam test has been performed at INFN-LNS (Italy) demonstrating a low detection threshold, a good pulse-shape discrimination even at low energies and a wide dynamic range for the measurement of the neutrons energy.

Few years ago we proposed a novel detection system textbf- named FARCOS (Femtoscopy ARray for COrrelations andSpectroscopy) – to target different open cases in nuclear physics. The basic cluster unit of the FARCOS array is a telescope structure with an active area of $6.4 \times 6.4$ cm$^{\mathbf {2}}$ composed of three detection stages. The first two detection layers are DC-coupled Double-Sided Silicon Strip Detectors (DSSSDs), 300 $\mu \textbf{m}$ thick and 1500 $\mu \textbf{m}$ thick, featuring $32 \times 32$ orthogonal strips. The third stage, acting as calorimeter, is composed of four truncated pyramids of CsI(Tl) crystals with an active area of $3.2 \times 3.2$ cm$^{\mathbf {2\, }}$textbfand an absorption length of 6 cm arranged in window configuration. The final system will be a modular assembly of 20 telescopes.A key feature of FARCOS is the identification of the particles stopping even in the first detection layer, relying on pulse shape analysis techniques. The FARCOS frontend electronics features a full scale energy range up to 2 GeV with 5 different selectable ranges and an energy resolution down to 10 keV FWHM with a power budget of about 10 mW/channel in the case of the lower full scale energy range. Its core is a custom multichannel charge preamplifier VLSI chip.The system performance has been extensively qualified on few workhorses in view of the assembly of the final telescopes foreseen for 2018.

The dependence of the CsI(Tl) scintillation time constants and intensities on the particle ionization profile is at the basis of the Charge and Mass identification technique for Light Charged Products in Intermediate Energy Nuclear Physics multi-detector arrays. The possibility of storing the digitized waveforms in true beam experiments allows performing further offline analyses and makes available a data set related to the interaction of different particle types in a wide energy range.

WOS: 000295765100014, The first implementation of the AGATA spectrometer consisting of five triple germanium detector clusters has been installed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, INFN. This setup has two major goals, the first one is to validate the gamma-tracking concept and the second is to perform an experimental physics program using the stable beams delivered by the Tandem-PIAVE-ALPI accelerator complex. A large variety of physics topics will be addressed during this campaign, aiming to investigate both neutron and proton-rich nuclei. The setup has been designed to be coupled with the large-acceptance magnetic-spectrometer PRISMA. Therefore, the in-beam prompt gamma rays detected with AGATA will be measured in coincidence with the products of multinucleon-transfer and deep-inelastic reactions measured by PRISMA. Moreover, the setup is versatile enough to host ancillary detectors, including the heavy-ion detector DANTE, the gamma-ray detector array HELENA, the Cologne plunger for lifetime measurements and the Si-pad telescope TRACE. In this paper the design; characteristics and performance figures of the setup will be described.

The first 2+ states in 134Ce and 136Nd and the second 2+ state in 136Nd were populated by Coulomb excitation at relativistic energies, and γ-rays were measured using the RISING setup at GSI. For 134Ce an indication of the excitation to the second 2+ state was observed. This experiment performed for the first time Coulomb excitation to second 2+ states with rare isotope beams at relativistic energies. For 136Nd the B ( E 2 ; 2 1 + → 0 + ) , B ( E 2 ; 2 2 + → 0 + ) , and B ( E 2 ; 2 2 + → 2 1 + ) values relative to the previously known B ( E 2 ; 2 1 + → 0 + ) value for 134Ce are determined as 81(10), 11(3) and 180(92) W.u., respectively. The results are discussed in the framework of geometrical models that indicate pronounced γ-softness in these nuclei.

We show the results of some test beams performed on a new monolithic strip silicon detector telescope developed in collaboration with the INFN and ST-microelectronics. Using an appropriate design, the induction on the ΔE stages, generated by the charge released in the E stage, was used to obtain the position of the detected particle. The position measurement, together with the low threshold for particle charge identification, allows the new detector to be used for a large variety of applications due to its sensitivity of only a few microns measured in both directions.

The position sensitivity of a large LaBr 3 :Ce crystal was investigated with the aim of correcting for the Doppler broadening in nuclear physics experiments. The crystal was cylindrical, 3 in×3 in (7.62 cm x 7.62 cm) and with diffusive surfaces as typically used in nuclear physics basic research to measure medium or high energy gamma rays (0.5 MeV γ

The recently developed Cs2LiYCl6:Ce (CLYC) crystals are interesting scintillation detectors not only for their gamma energy resolution (

We describe the experimental set-up of the Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) in-flight facility EXOTIC consisting of: (a) two position-sensitive Parallel Plate Avalanche Counters (PPACs), dedicated to the event-by-event tracking of the produced RIBs and to time of flight measurements and (b) the new high-granularity compact telescope array EXPADES (EXotic PArticle DEtection System), designed for nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics experiments employing low-energy light RIBs. EXPADES consists of eight Δ E – E res telescopes arranged in a cylindrical configuration around the target. Each telescope is made up of two Double Sided Silicon Strip Detectors (DSSSDs) with a thickness of 40/60 μm and 300 μm for the Δ E and Eres layer, respectively. Additionally, eight ionization chambers were constructed to be used as an alternative Δ E stage or, in conjunction with the entire DSSSD array, to build up more complex triple telescopes. New low-noise multi-channel charge-sensitive preamplifiers and spectroscopy amplifiers, associated with constant fraction discriminators, peak-and-hold and Time to Amplitude Converter circuits were developed for the electronic readout of the Δ E stage. Application Specific Integrated Circuit-based electronics was employed for the treatment of the Eres signals. An 8-channel, 12-bit multi-sampling 50 MHz Analog to Digital Converter, a Trigger Supervisor Board for handling the trigger signals of the whole experimental set-up and an ad hoc data acquisition system were also developed. The performance of the PPACs, EXPADES and of the associated electronics was obtained offline with standard α calibration sources and in-beam by measuring the scattering process for the systems 17O+58Ni and 17O+208Pb at incident energies around their respective Coulomb barriers and, successively, during the first experimental runs with the RIBs of the EXOTIC facility.

The response of a cylindrical continuous 3″ × 3″ LaBr3:Ce crystal coupled to four Position Sensitive photomultipliers (PSPMT) was studied using a 1 mm collimated beam of 662 keV gamma rays.

The properties of a cylindrical 1 00 � 1 00 LaBr3:Ce scintillator (Brillance 380) were investigated. The energy resolution at g-ray energy of 662 keV was measured to be smaller than 3% and the intrinsic time resolution was found to be E230 ps. Two different aspects were investigated. The first is the detailed study of the crystal self-activity, emitting a and b particles and g-rays, by measuring coincidences with g-rays in HPGe, BGO and BaF2 detectors. In particular, the coincidence with an HPGe detector allowed to isolate clearly the different contributions from 227 Ac (chemical homologue of lanthanum) and its daughter nuclei down to the stable 207 Pb. The second aspect is the determination of the efficiency for g-ray detection, measured at 1 MeV and simulated using GEANT4 up to 15 MeV as a function of the detector size.

A systematic study of isotopic effects in the break-up of projectile spectators at relativistic energies has been performed with the ALADiN spectrometer at the GSI laboratory. Searching for signals of criticality in the fragment production we have applied the model independent universal fluctuations theory already proposed to track criticality signals in multifragmentation to our data. The fluctuation of the largest fragment charge and of the asymmetry of the two and three largest fragments and their bimodal distribution have also been analysed., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, IX International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 28 - September 1, 2006

The energy and angular distributions of $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ ions produced in the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}+\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$ reaction at a bombarding energy of 22 MeV have been measured for the first time. The yield of the heavier helium isotope was four to five times more abundant than that of its lighter counterpart, ruling out the possibility that in this energy range the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ reaction dynamics is dominated by the exclusive breakup process $^{7}\mathrm{Be}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}}^{3}\mathrm{He}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}+\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{4}\mathrm{He}$ (${S}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}=1.586$ MeV). Extensive kinematic and theoretical calculations suggest that the $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ ions mostly originate from the $^{4}\mathrm{He}$-stripping process and the $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ production is mainly triggered by the fusion-evaporation channel. The role played by the breakup, $^{3}\mathrm{He}$-stripping, $1n$-stripping, and $1n$-pickup processes is also discussed.

2(+) and 1(-) states in Zr-90 were populated via the (O-17, O-17 'gamma) reaction at 340 MeV. The gamma decay was measured with high resolution using the AGATA (advanced gamma tracking array demonstrator array). Differential cross sections were obtained at few different angles for the scattered particle. The results of the elastic scattering and inelastic excitation of 2(+), 3(,)(-) and 1(-) states are compared with distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) calculations, using both the standard collective form factor and a form factor obtained by folding microscopically calculated transition densities. This allowed to extract the isoscalar component of the 1(-) state at 6.424 MeV. The comparison of the present (17O, 17O 'gamma) data with existing (gamma,gamma') and (p, p') data in the corresponding region of the gamma continuum (6-11 MeV), characterized by a large E1 component, shows completely different behaviors of the cross section as a function of the nuclear excitation energy. The comparison of the data with DWBA calculations suggests a decrease of the isoscalar strength in the cross section with increasing excitation energy.

A fast gateless pulse stretcher has been developed for an easy acquisition of pulse-shape information of BaF/sub 2/ scintillator signals. Commonly, this information is obtained by the use of two QDCs with different integration windows. This technique becomes complex and rather inconvenient when signals need to be delayed. The developed circuit uses a fast-stretcher technique to generate pulse-shape information, which requires no delay lines or gate signals. The outputs consist of two Gaussian signals whose amplitudes are proportional to the height of the BaF/sub 2/ fast component and to the total energy deposited into the scintillator. These outputs are easily acquired with a standard peak ADC with no gate-timing problems. An excellent Fast-Slow separation has been obtained even with small input signals of only few millivolts. This technology is general purpose and can be used with any other scintillator whose light emission is characterized by two components with different lifetimes.

The Rare ISotopes INvestigation at GSI project combines the former EUROBALL Ge-Cluster detectors, the MINIBALL Ge detectors, BaF2--HECTOR detectors, and the fragment separator at GSI for high-resolution in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements with radioactive beams. These secondary beams produced at relativistic energies are used for Coulomb excitation or secondary fragmentation experiments in order to explore the nuclear structure of the projectiles or projectile like nuclei by measuring de-excitation photons. The newly designed detector array is described and the performance characteristics are given. Moreover, particularities of the experimental technique are discussed.

We suggest that some key physical parameters of high-purity germanium (HPGe) segmented detectors, including segment capacitance and leakage current, can be derived from standard noise measurements. These parameters are relevant when designing and optimizing the front-end electronics.

A new hybrid charge-sensitive preamplifier with a sensitivity of 5 mV/MeV has been specifically designed to operate in conjunction with high-capacitance silicon detectors. The shape of the leading edge of its impulse response remains fast (20 ns) and unchanged over the full output voltage range (7 V), as is required in nuclear-physics experiments in which pulse-shape analysis is used for particle identification. The circuit is miniaturized onto two sides of a ceramic substrate as small as 17/spl times/23 mm/sup 2/. A low-noise fast discharge technique is used: the return to the high-value feedback resistor (R/sub F/) comes from a noninverting low-gain (A) amplifier cascaded to the principal charge-amplifier loop. This yields a reduction of the fall time of a factor A, with no changes of C/sub F/ and R/sub F/ and no added noise. The shorter fall time reduces the pileup effects in presence of high event rates. Special care has been devoted to the matching between the high capacitance of the detector and that of the input stage of the preamplifier. To match a high capacitance, four BF862 field-effect transistors have been connected in parallel.

A 100 Msamples/s 14-bit sampling analog-to-digital converter has been used to perform digital pulse-shape acquisition of signals collected from CHIMERA telescopes. Two different kinds of tests have been carried out to check the performances. The signals from a typical CHIMERA detection cell have been collected using both a standard CHIMERA electronic chain up to the amplifier, and a very simple analog front end, basically reduced to the preamplifier. The obtained on-beam and on-line results are presented.

In this paper, we propose a new add-on circuit structure that swiftly desaturates a digitized charge preamplifier for ionizing-radiation detectors when an energetic event occurs, or when a burst of piled up events puts it into saturation. The amplitude of the energetic event can even be reconstructed with a time-over-threshold (TOT) measurement of the fast-reset transient. With an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) range of 10 MeV, we were able to measure events of up to 100 MeV. The circuit is conceived for experiments where a spurious background of energetic particles and photons exists, such those with exotic beams in the new generation of nuclear-physics research facilities.

We studied the elastic scattering process for the system (17)F + (58)Ni at two colliding energies slightly above the Coulomb barrier. The experimental data were analyzed within the framework of the optical model to investigate the effects of the projectile small binding energy (S(p) = 600 keV) on the reaction dynamics. We found that in this energy range the "reduced" reaction cross section for the system (17)F + (58)Ni is rather similar to that induced by the interaction of tightly-bound (16)O nuclei on the same target. Nuclear Physics A

Total reaction cross sections for the radioactive nucleus 8Li on 90Zr are reported at the near-barrier energies of 18.5 and 21.5MeV, derived from quasi-elastic scattering measurements. An analysis of the quasi-elastic scattering results is performed within an optical model framework using the BDM3Y1 interaction and total reaction cross sections are deduced. These quantities, appropriately reduced, are compared with previous data obtained in elastic scattering measurements with well and weakly bound projectiles on various targets and a formula for predicting total reaction cross sections with an uncertainty of \( \sim 20\)% is obtained. Further on, the ratios of direct to total reaction cross sections are estimated for 6,8Li on various targets and are compared with CDCC or CRC calculations. The energy dependence of the optical potential is also discussed.

Two-point charge division is a typical technique for position measurements in linear multi electrode detectors (microstrips, multiwire proportional counters, silicon drift-detector arrays, and scintillators coupled to photodetectors). Only two preamplifiers, located at the right and the left ends of the detection array, are used, each of which receives a fraction of the charge produced by the ionizing event. Position is reconstructed comparing these charge fractions. In principle, either a resistive or a capacitive divider may be used to split the charge. The choice between such two different setups is not obvious. In fact, each of them shows advantages and disadvantages in terms of noise, signal propagation, and linearity. In this paper, we present a unified treatment for the capacitive and the resistive mechanisms of charge division that addresses the issues of this choice. As an example, the realistic setup of the multiwire position-sensitive proportional counter to be used in the TP-MUSIC III chamber of the ALADiN experiment at GSI is considered.

A new hybrid, low-noise, wide-bandwidth charge amplifier, using a new active discharge mechanism, has been designed and built primarily for gamma-ray tracking detectors, where a fast rise time is required. In order to realize the discharge of the feedback capacitance, a noninverting low-gain (A) stage has been inserted between the output of a conventional charge preamplifier and the high-value feedback resistance. This technique allows to make the discharge time constant shorter (by factor A), while keeping the feedback resistor as the feedback capacitance unchanged. Special care has been devoted realizing the hybrid layout to reduce the stray capacitance of the feedback resistor and particular attention has been dedicated to assure a good signal-to-noise ratio and a fast rise time. A low-power consumption allows the use of this charge-sensitive preamplifier in vacuum chamber without cooling system. The noise level is equivalent to less than 880-eV full width half maximum for an input capacitance of 22 pF, using 3-/spl mu/s shaping time. The noise grows with a slope of less than 10 eV/pF in the range of 20-60 pF input capacitance. This suggests that the preamplifier can be operated at room temperature maintaining a good noise usually reachable with a cooled setup.

We present a new discharge mechanism for low-noise fast preamplifiers for /spl gamma/-ray spectroscopy. Such circuital solution has been conceived in the framework of the INFN Mars experiment, which imposes stringent requirements for both the signal-to-noise ratio and the rise time of the front-end preamplifiers. Basically, a noninverting low-gain (G) stage is interposed between the output of a conventional charge amplifier and the high-value feedback resistor. It can be easily found that this adds no noise but the discharge time constant is reduced by a factor G, because the voltage drop across the resistor is G times as high, and such is the discharge current. A similar effect could also be obtained in the standard charge amplifier by diminishing the feedback resistor by a factor G. But this would yield an increase of a factor G of its thermal current noise. In this sense our equivalent discharge resistor is "cold", because it carries a current noise G times as low. This permits us to use a relatively large feedback capacitance which inherently yields a fast risetime. A rise time of 15 ns and an overall electronic noise of 1.03 keV FWNM at 3 /spl mu/s shaping time have been obtained, with an input capacitance of 33 pF, and 1.5 pF feedback capacitor, 150 /spl mu/s discharge time constant.

A new detection apparatus, named EXPADES (EXotic PArticle DEtection System), has been expressly designed to be used in nuclear physics experiments involving exotic beams and devoted to the study of nuclear reactions (scattering, direct reactions, breakup…) at energies around the Coulomb barrier. It consists of double-side segmented silicon detectors arranged in a compact configuration around the target. A very large solid angle, a wide angular range, high granularity and a highly miniaturized readout electronics, based on a new production commercial ASIC chipset, are the main features of the system.

A systematic study of α -beam heating effect on a windowless gas target through Rutherford scattering is described. For such measurements, an ion implanted commercial silicon detector to reveal 100–250 keV alphas is used coupled with a low-noise home-made preamplifier. The results on density reduction of the gas in the target due to beam heating are discussed and their importance for high precision cross section measurements at very low energies are underlined.

In the framework of the HADES (High Acceptance DiElectron Spectrometer) collaboration we are developing the Time Of Flight (TOF) wall subdetector. In order to efficiently select events with e/sup +/e/sup -/ pairs produced in the nuclear matter, the TOF wall must be able to resolve electrons from pions up to 0.5 GeV/c and from protons up to 2 GeV/c. Because the short flight path of about 2 m requires a 100-150 ps time resolution, we are building a granular system made of scintillator rods readout on both ends by means of photomultipliers, capable of such performance.

Heavy ion studies with stable and exotic beams require the identification of nuclear frag- ments in a broad range of mass and atomic numbers. Recent progresses of the Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) method applied to the current signals of silicon detectors have en- couraged new studies in this field. The aim of our experimental study was to progress in this technique by applying PSD to charge signals produced in planar silicon detectors of large capacitance (1nF). A new electronic design based on a double constant-fraction discrimination of timing signals, was applied to some of the CHIMERA Si detectors, by using Tandem and Cyclotron beams delivered by the LNS in Catania. We obtained charge identification with energy threshold of about 4 AMeV from Z=1 up to fluorine and with good timing performances (direct injection mode). Our recent results strongly encourage for further application to 4π detection systems in the field of exotic beams.

[EN] A highly segmented silicon-pad detector prototype has been tested to explore the performance of the digital pulse shape analysis in the discrimination of the particles reaching the silicon detector. For the first time a 200 tun thin silicon detector, grown using an ordinary floating zone technique, has been shown to exhibit a level discrimination thanks to the fine segmentation. Light-charged particles down to few MeV have been separated, including their punch-through. A coaxial HPGe detector in time coincidence has further confirmed the quality of the particle discrimination. K.; 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved, This work has been supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) under the project FIRB/08-RBFR08RDKZ and partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) under projects FPA2007-63074 (FINURA) and INGENIO-2010 (CPAN). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under Grant Agreement no. 262010 ENSAR. One of the authors (V.V. P.) acknowledges the financial support through the INSPIRE faculty program, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, in carrying out these investigations. The authors would like to extend appreciation to the technical staff of LNL Tandem for their assistance during the experiment and the local members of the EXOTIC project for their support in the preparation of the experimental setup

The K hindrance to the gamma decay is studied in the warm rotating W-174 nucleus, focusing on the weakening of the selection rules of the K quantum number with increasing excitation energy. W-174 was populated by the fusion reaction of Ti-50 (at 217 MeV) on a Te-128 target, and its gamma decay was detected by the AGATA Demonstrator array coupled to a BaF2 multiplicity filter at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of INFN. A fluctuation analysis of gamma coincidence matrices gives a similar number of low-K and high-K discrete excited bands. The results are compared to simulations of the gamma-decay flow based on a microscopic cranked shell model at finite temperature in which the K mixing is governed by the interplay of Coriolis force with the residual interaction. Agreement between simulations and experiment is obtained only by hindering the E1 decay between low-K and high-K bands by an amount compatible with that determined by spectroscopic studies of K isomers in the same mass region, with a similar trend with excitation energy. The work indicates that K mixing due to temperature effects may play a leading role for the entire body of discrete excited bands, which probes the onset region of K weakening.

A data acquisition system based on VME standard modules has been designed for MULTICS, a multi-element detector array. The system is composed of a master crate housing CPU's, memories, interface and pattern boards. Up to 15 VME slave crates can be connected using the VMV vertical bus for ADC and TDC boards. A Macintosh Quadra is used as a console to provide a user friendly environment to send commands to the CPU's. Tools in the system include collecting and storing data, displaying histograms, handling all hardware parameters (high and low thresholds, rise time protection etc.). Diagnostic functions and error messages are also available to detect hardware failures or incorrect settings for the modules.

Fusion cross sections were measured for ${}^{8}$B + ${}^{28}$Si at near-barrier energies by detecting the alpha particles produced in the evaporation process. The results present a small suppression with respect to one-barrier penetration model predictions, which could be attributed to incomplete fusion processes and do not differ appreciably from fusion cross sections obtained with weakly bound but stable projectiles on the same target. Comprehensive comparisons of fusion cross sections at sub- and near-barrier energies with various light weakly bound projectiles support a simple tunneling probability with slight modifications due to coupled-channel effects.

We investigated the merits of different event parameters in the identification of Light Charged Particles (LCPs) with CsI(Tl) scintillators read out by photodiodes at high incident energy (400 MeV/u). This investigation is made possible by digital signal processing the output signals. As in the conventional analogue case, the digitized signals allow the discrimination of light charged particles by computing the fast and slow components. In addition other identification parameters as the rise time of the output pulses of the CsI(Tl) come out nearly for free. Aim of this paper is the investigation of novel identification plots and the probe of their merits, in particular at relativistic energies. When the energies of the light charged particles exceed those corresponding to their ranges in CsI(Tl), the points related to the punching-through particles gather in the corresponding scatter plots giving rise to a cusp. The punch-through energies provide a complete set of data for the energy calibration of the reaction products stopped in the CsI(Tl). The obtained results suggest that at relativistic beam energies the energy vs. rise time computation provide an efficient figure for the discrimination in charge and mass of LCPs.

The facility EXOTIC for the in-flight production of light weakly-bound Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs) has been operating at INFN-LNL since 2004. RIBs are produced via two-body reactions induced by high intensity heavy-ion beams impinging on light gas targets and selected by means of a 30°-dipole bending magnet and a 1-m long Wien filter. The facility has been recently upgraded (i) by developing a cryogenic gas target, (ii) by replacing the power supplies of the middle lenses of the two quadrupole triplets, (iii) by installing two y-steerers and (iv) by placing two Parallel Plate Avalanche Counters upstream the secondary target to provide an event-by-event reconstruction of the position hit on the target. So far, RIBs of 7Be, 8B and 17F in the energy range 3–5 MeV/u have been produced with intensities about 3 × 105, 1.6 × 103 and 105 pps, respectively. Possible light RIBs (up to Z = 10) deliverable by the facility EXOTIC are also reviewed.

A 16 channel programmable spectroscopy amplifier having high performances has been developed to answer the demands of nuclear experiments. Housed in a single width NIM unit, the module is fully programmable through a serial interface and all selected values are stored in a non volatile memory. Usually in nuclear experiments, the data is collected into the Data Acquisition Systems by ADC's, QAC's and TDC's modules. The facilities of the Unit here described, allow a good match with these modules. Actually the 16 channel spectroscopy amplifier houses double sixteen analog outputs; they can be easily programmed whether to have positive or negative pulses allowing one to use either ADC's or QDC's. Furthermore sixteen timing outputs are available on the front panel. >

The performance of the LAND neutron detector is studied. Using an event-mixing technique based on one-neutron data obtained in the S107 experiment at the GSI laboratory, we test the efficiency of various analytic tools used to determine the multiplicity and kinematic properties of detected neutrons. A new algorithm developed recently for recognizing neutron showers from spectator decays in the ALADIN experiment S254 is described in detail. Its performance is assessed in comparison with other methods. The properties of the observed neutron events are used to estimate the detection efficiency of LAND in this experiment., 16 pages, 8 figures