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We have designed and constructed a high-energy γ-ray source for detector characterisation and calibration. The source is a composite type based on a plutonium-beryllium neutron emitter embedded in a paraffin moderator, which is homogeneously mixed with nickel powder. The 9 MeV γ-ray source produces approximately 450 photons per second in 4π when 2.2×10

International audience; Target properties such as thickness and composition are essential ingredients in nuclear physics experiments, therefore, dedicated analyses to evaluate them before and/or after the measurement are often performed. In some experimental techniques, the exploited detectors allow for the evaluation of these properties on-line, i.e. directly during the experiment. In this paper, we report on the use of analysis methods coming from the Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy technique to obtain on-line information on the target used in a nuclear physics experiment. This measurement was performed at INFN LNL by exploiting the low-energy Coulomb excitation technique. The results have been compared with an independent Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy analysis of the same target performed at INFN LABEC in Florence.

Background: The heaviest T-z = 0 doubly-magic nucleus, Sn-100, and the neighboring nuclei offer unique opportunities to investigate the properties of nuclear interaction. For instance, the structur ...

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.

We present a liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling station for the high-purity germanium (HPGe) segmented clover detectors of the ELI-NP Array of DEtectors (ELIADE) spectrometer, including its associated filling control and monitoring systems, all designed and built in-house at Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP), Măgurele, Romania. The automated LN2 filling process is controlled by a CompactRIO (cRIO) system from National Instruments through a custom LabVIEW software used for monitoring both the internal germanium crystal temperatures as well as the temperatures of external Pt100 sensors (used for detection of overflow of LN2 from detectors during a filling process). The detectors are filled with LN2 by opening their individual filling valves (which are mounted on the cooling station) and the process is automatically stopped once an overflow condition is fulfilled by the corresponding external Pt100 sensor located downstream. A twelve-hour cycle is used to periodically fill all of the detector dewars and keep their germanium crystals cool at all times. The associated Graphic User Interface (GUI), Command Line Interface (CLI) and Text User Interface (TUI) are used for both controlling and monitoring the above mentioned process. Alert and warning email messages were also enabled via the cRIO system so that users can be alerted in real-time in the event of any cooling malfunction. In this way, any issues related to the cyclic filling procedure, as well as any abnormal observations regarding the germanium crystal temperatures can be quickly and efficiently addressed before the detectors have a chance to warm back up to room temperature. Temperature data of all the Pt100 sensors corresponding to detectors as well as to the solenoid valves are made available in an influx database by the cRIO control system. The web application Grafana access the database and plots them in real-time for online monitoring.

Gamma-ray angular distributions in oriented $$^{92}$$ Mo produced via the $$^{6}$$ Li+ $$^{89}$$ Y reaction were studied in this work. The characteristic $$\gamma $$ rays in $$^{92}$$ Mo were measured by means of the GALILEO array, which is composed of 25 Compton-suppressed HPGe detectors arranged in a nearly 2 $$\pi $$ geometry. A detailed analysis of the spin-alignment attenuation factors ( $$\alpha _2$$ ) for different excited states in $$^{92}$$ Mo was performed, by analyzing the measured angular distribution coefficients of several pure-E2 transitions. The relationship between $$\alpha _2$$ and the spin was established in $$^{92}$$ Mo and the 244-keV transition between the 5 $$^-_1$$ and 4 $$^+_1$$ states resulted to have a E1 + M2 character with a mixing ratio ( $$\delta $$ ) of $$-0.05^{+0.05}_{-0.06}$$ , consistent with shell model calculations.

Three nearly degenerate pairs of doublet bands are identified in $^{131}$Ba. Two of them, with positive-parity, are interpreted as pseudospin-chiral quartet bands. This is the first time that a complete set of chiral doublet bands built on the pseudospin partners π(d5/2,g7/2) is observed. The chiral bands with opposite parity built on 3-quasiparticle configurations are directly connected by many E1 transitions, without involving an intermediary non-chiral configuration. The observed band structures in $^{131}$Ba have been investigated by using the reflection-asymmetric particle rotor model. The energies and the electromagnetic transition ratios of the three pairs of doublet bands observed in $^{131}$Ba are reproduced and they are interpreted as chiral doublet bands with three-quasiparticle configurations. It is the first time that multiple chiral bands are observed in the presence of enhanced octupole correlations and pseudospin symmetry.

International audience; SPIDER is a new array of segmented silicon detectors for low-energy Coulomb-excitation experiments, designed as an ancillary device for modern γ -ray spectrometers such as GALILEO and AGATA. Currently, it is used at the INFN Legnaro National Laboratories (LNL) for experiments with the GALILEO γ -ray array and the stable beams provided by the Tandem-XTU, ALPI-PIAVE accelerator complex. In this paper, a detailed description of SPIDER is presented, as well as the outcomes from the first in-beam experiment of the array coupled with GALILEO. In particular, radiation damage and cross-talk/charge-sharing effects induced by energetic heavy ions in SPIDER are investigated and the capabilities of the array to perform on-line Rutherford back-scattering analysis of the exploited target are presented. The material reported here can be used to plan future experiments with the GALILEO-SPIDER setup with the presently available stable beams at LNL and paves the way for future experimental campaigns with the radioactive beams provided in the near future by the SPES facility at LNL.

Low-energy Coulomb excitation is one of the simplest and most known tools to study the nuclear shape; for this reason it is nowadays widely used at radioactive beam facilities. The SPES facility, for the acceleration of radioactive beams will soon provide the first exotic beams at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL) in Italy.a#13; To this end a new particle detector (Silicon PIe DEtectoR) to be used for Coulomb excitation studies has been installed at LNL. SPIDER has been coupled to the GALILEO array of germanium detectors, and a number of experiments have been already successfully performed. This paves the way for future experiments with the radioactive beams provided by the SPES facility.

The lifetimes of the low-lying excited states 2(+) and 4(+) have been directly measured in the neutron-deficient Sn-106,Sn-108 isotopes. the nuclei were populated via a deep-inelastic reaction and the lifetime measurement was performed employing a differential plunger device. the emitted gamma rays were detected by the AGATA array, while the reaction products were uniquely identified by the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer. Large-Scale Shell-Model calculations with realistic forces indicate that, independently of the pairing content of the interaction, the quadrupole force is dominant in the B(E2; 2(1)(+) -> 0(g.s)(+)) values and it describes well the experimental pattern for Sn104-114 ; the B(E2;(+)(4) -> 2(1)(+)) values, measured here for the first time, depend critically on a delicate pairing-quadrupole balance, disclosed by the very precise results in Sn-108. (C) 2020 the Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V., European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological DevelopmentEuropean Union (EU) [262010]; Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Padova e Rovigo under the project CONPHYT, starting grant in 2017; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [822-2005-3332, 821-2010-6024, 821-2013-2304, 621-20145558, 2017-0065]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation [2005.0184]; Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [114F473]; Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovacionInstituto de Salud Carlos IIISpanish Government [SEV-2014-0398, FPA2017-84756-C4, EEBBI-15-09671]; Generalitat ValencianaGeneralitat Valenciana [PROMETEO/2019/005]; EU-FEDER fundsEuropean Union (EU); Croatian Science Foundation [7194]; Hungarian National Research and Innovation Office (NKFIH) [K128947, PD124717, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00034]; Polish National Science Centre under the COPIN-IN2P3 project [2014-14-M-ST2-00738, 2016-22M-ST2-00269, 2017-25-B-ST2-01569]; Polish National Science Centre under the COPIGAL project [2014-14-M-ST2-00738, 2016-22M-ST2-00269, 2017-25-B-ST2-01569]; Polish National Science Centre under the POLITA project [2014-14-M-ST2-00738, 2016-22M-ST2-00269, 2017-25-B-ST2-01569], The authors would like to thank the AGATA and VAMOS collaborations. Special thanks go to the GANIL technical staff for their help in setting up the apparatuses and the good quality beam and to A. Poves for his fruitful comments. This work was partially supported by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (grant no. 262010). A.G. acknowledges the support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Padova e Rovigo under the project CONPHYT, starting grant in 2017. the work was also supported (B.C, H.L., J.N. and U.J.) by Swedish Research Council under the grant agreements nos. 822-2005-3332, 821-2010-6024, 821-2013-2304, 621-20145558 and 2017-0065, and by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation grant no. 2005.0184, (B.S.) by the Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under the project no. 114F473, (A.G., A.J. and R.P.) by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion under the contracts nos. SEV-2014-0398, FPA2017-84756-C4 and EEBBI-15-09671, by the Generalitat Valenciana under the grant agreement no. PROMETEO/2019/005 and by the EU-FEDER funds, (T.M and S.S.) by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project no. 7194, (I.K and D.S.) by the Hungarian National Research and Innovation Office (NKFIH) under the project nos. K128947, PD124717 and GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00034, (M.P.) by the Polish National Science Centre with the grants nos. 2014-14-M-ST2-00738, 2016-22M-ST2-00269 and 2017-25-B-ST2-01569 under the COPIN-IN2P3, COPIGAL and POLITA projects.

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 .

8 pags., 9 figs., We measured absolute cross sections for neutron transfer channels populated in the Rb-94 + Pb-208 binary reaction. Cross sections have been extracted identifying directly the lead isotopes with the high efficiency MINIBALL gamma-ray array coupled to a particle detector combined with a radioactive Rb-94 beam delivered at E-lab = 6.2 MeV/nucleon by the HIE-ISOLDE facility. We observed sizable cross sections in the neutron-rich mass region, where the heavy partner acquires neutrons. A fair agreement between the measured cross sections with those from GRAZING calculations gives confidence in the cross-section predictions of more neutron-rich nuclei produced via a larger number of transferred nucleons., This work was partly supported by the HORIZON 2020 ENSAR2 Grant Agreement no. 654002, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND (EU-CERN) grant agreement no. 665779, and by STFC (U.K.). This work has been supported in part by the Croatian Science Foundation under Project no. 7194 and in part under Project no. IP-2018-01- 1257, and the German BMBF under contract 05P18PKCIA + Verbundprojekt 05P2018

In recent years, a number of both theoretical and experimental investigations have been performed focusing on the zirconium isotopic chain. In particular, state-of-the-art Monte Carlo shell-model calculations predict shape coexistence in these isotopes. In this context, the 94Zr nucleus, which is believed to possess a nearly spherical ground state, is particularly interesting since the purported deformed structure is basedon the low-lying 02+ state, making it amenable for detailed study. In order to provide definitive conclusionson the shapes of the low-lying states, two complementary experiments to study 94Zr by means of low-energy Coulomb excitation were performed. This data will allow the quadrupole moments of the 21,2+ levels to be extracted as well as for the deformation parameters of the 01,2+ states to be determined and, thus, definitive conclusions to be drawn on the role of shape coexistence in this nucleus for the first time. The first experiment was performed at the INFN Legnaro National Laboratory with the GALILEO-SPIDER setup, which, for the first time, was coupled with 6 lanthanum bromide scintillators (LaBr3:Ce) in order to maximize the γ-ray detection effciency. The second experiment was performed at the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory (MLL) in Munich and used a Q3D magnetic spectrograph to detect the scattered 12C ions following Coulomb excitation of 94Zr targets.

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.

Excited states of odd-odd nucleus 92Nb and odd-A nucleus 93Nb were populated in the 6Li+ 89Y reaction with an incident energy of 34 MeV. The processes that produce 92,93Nb and can be measured by a combination of light charged particle and gamma ray measurements are discussed. Twenty new transitions are observed and eight new levels are constructed in 92Nb, and in addition two new transitions are added to the level scheme of 93Nb. Using shell model calculations, the low-lying structure of 92Nb is investigated and compared with the experimental results.

Several new bands have been identified in 130Ba, among which there is one with band-head spin 8+. Its properties are in agreement with the Fermi-aligned \nu h11/2^2 , 7/2+[523] \otimes 9/2-[514] Nilsson configuration. This is the first observation of a two-quasiparticle t-band in the A=130 mass region. The t-band is fed by a dipole band involving two additional h11/2 protons. The odd-spin partners of the proton and neutron S-bands and the ground-state band at high spins are also newly identified. The observed bands are discussed using several theoretical models, which strongly suggest the coexistence of prolate and oblate shapes polarized by rotation aligned two-proton and two-neutron configurations, as well as prolate collective rotations around axes with different orientations. With the new results, 130Ba presents one of the best and most complete sets of collective excitations that a gamma-soft nucleus can manifest at medium and high spins, revealing a diversity of shapes and rotations for the nuclei in the A = 130 mass region., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

A new device, the GALILEO plunger, has been developed for lifetime measurement studies using the GALILEO γ -ray detector array at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL) in Legnaro, Italy. This plunger device holds two stretched metal foils in the beam path for the use of the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique in order to measure lifetimes of nuclear excited states in the range of 1 ps to 1 ns. The compact design allows one to combine different auxiliary detectors with the plunger device inside the target chamber and takes care of high γ -ray transparency. The design and control of the device are presented in this paper, together with lifetimes of excited states in 180Pt measured within the first in-beam commissioning run.

Transfer reactions have always been of great importance for nuclear structure and reaction mechanism studies. So far, in multinucleon transfer studies, proton pickup channels have been completely identified in atomic and mass numbers at energies close to the Coulomb barrier only in few cases. We measured the multinucleon transfer reactions in the 40Ar+208Pb system near the Coulomb barrier, by employing the PRISMA magnetic spectrometer. By using the most neutron-rich stable 40Ar beam we could populate, besidesneutron pickup and proton stripping channels, also neutron stripping and proton pickup channels. Comparison ofcross sections between different systems with the 208Pb target and with projectiles going from neutron-poor to neutron-rich nuclei, as well as between the data and GRAZING calculations, was carried out.Finally, recent results concerning the measurement of the excitation function from the Coulomb barrier to far below for the 92Mo+54Fe system, where both proton stripping and pickup channels were populated with similar strength, will be discussed.

Zakopane Conference on Nuclear Physics - Extremes of the Nuclear Landscape -- AUG 26-SEP 02, 2018 -- Zakopane, POLAND, WOS: 000463866500047, A new neutron multiplicity filter NEDA, after a decade of design, R&D and construction, was employed in its first physics campaign with the AGATA spectrometer. Properties and performance of the array are discussed., Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [VR 2014-6644]; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK project)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [117F114, 114F473]; National Science Centre, Poland (NCN) [2017/25/B/ST2/01569, 2016/22/M/ST2/00269, 2014/14/M/ST2/00738, 2013/08/M/ST2/00257]; UK STFCScience & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) [ST/J000124/1, ST/L005727/1, STL005735/1, ST/P003885/1]; Generalitat Valenciana, SpainGeneralitat Valenciana; MICIU, Spain [PROM-ETEO II/2014/019, FPA2017-84756-C4, SEV-2014-0398]; E.C. FEDER fundsEuropean Union (EU), This study was supported by the Swedish Research Council (contract number VR 2014-6644), the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK project Nos. 117F114 and 114F473), the National Science Centre, Poland (NCN) (grants Nos. 2017/25/B/ST2/01569, 2016/22/M/ST2/00269, 2014/14/M/ST2/00738 and 2013/08/M/ST2/00257) the UK STFC under grant Nos. ST/J000124/1, ST/L005727/1, STL005735/1, ST/P003885/1, the Generalitat Valenciana and MICIU, Spain, grants PROM-ETEO II/2014/019, FPA2017-84756-C4, Severo Ochoa SEV-2014-0398 and by the E.C. FEDER funds.1

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.

Background: Previous measurements of Beta-delayed neutron emitters comprise around 230 nuclei, spanning from the 8He up to 150La. Apart from 210Tl, with a minuscule branching ratio of 0.07%, no other neutron emitter is measured yet beyond A = 150. Therefore new data are needed, particularly in the heavy mass region around N=126, in order to guide theoretical models and to understand the formation of the third r-process peak at A 195. Purpose: To measure both, Beta-decay half-lives and neutron branching ratios of several neutron-rich Au, Hg, Tl, Pb and Bi isotopes beyond N = 126. Method: Ions of interest are produced by fragmentation of a 238U beam, selected and identifed via the GSI-FRS fragment separator. A stack of segmented silicon detectors (SIMBA) is used to measure ion-implants and -decays. An array of 30 3He tubes embedded in a polyethylene matrix (BELEN) is used to detect neutrons with high efficiency and selectivity. A self-triggered digital system is employed to acquire data and to enable time-correlations. The latter are analyzed with an analytical model and results for the half-lives and neutron-branching ratios are derived using the binned Maximum-Likelihood method. Results: Twenty new Beta-decay half-lives are reported for 204

International audience; A new segmented particle detector, SPIDER, has been designed to be used as an ancillary device with the GALILEO γ-ray spectrometer, as well as with other multi-detector γ-ray arrays that will be available at LNL in the future (e.g. AGATA). To commission the SPIDER-GALILEO experimental setup, a multi-step Coulomb excitation experiment was carried out with a 240 MeV beam of (66)Zn produced by the Tandem-XTU accelerator at INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. The measured particle and γ-ray spectra are compared with the results of detailed GEANT4 simulations which used the Coulomb excitation cross sections, estimated with the computer code GOSIA, as an input. The preliminary results indicate that precise transition probabilities will be obtained which are essential for solving discrepancies reported in the literature for this nucleus.

International audience; The ALTO facility consists of two accelerators in the same area. A Tandem accelerator dedicated to stable (ions and cluster) beam physics and a linear electron accelerator dedicated to the production of radioactive beams. This gives a unique opportunity to have in the same place cluster beams for interdisciplinary physics and stable and radioactive beams for astrophysics and nuclear physics.

During the AGATA campaign at GANIL, the neutron-deficient Sn region was populated via a multi-nucleon transfer reaction in order to directly measure the lifetime of the first excited states with a plunger device, providing complementary information to previous results obtained with Coulomb excitation experiments. The AGATA γ-ray array was used together with the VAMOS++ spectrometer to study the nuclei of interest. ispartof: Acta Physica Polonica B vol:48 issue:3 pages:331-336 ispartof: location:Zakopane: POLAND status: published

The β-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron rich Hg and Tl nuclei have been measured together with β-decay half-lives for 20 isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in the mass region N≳126. These are the heaviest species where neutron emission has been observed so far. These measurements provide key information to evaluate the performance of nuclear microscopic and phenomenological models in reproducing the high-energy part of the β-decay strength distribution. This provides important constraints on global theoretical models currently used in r-process nucleosynthesis.

We have performed the $^{70}\mathrm{Zn}(d,^{3}\mathrm{He})^{69}\mathrm{Cu}$ proton pick-up reaction in direct kinematics using a deuteron beam at 27 MeV. The outgoing $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ particles were detected at the focal-plane detection system of an Enge split-pole spectrometer. The excitation-energy spectrum was reconstructed up to 7 MeV and spectroscopic factors were obtained after analysis of the angular distributions in the finite-range distorted-wave Born approximation. The results show three new angular distributions for which the $\ensuremath{\pi}{f}_{7/2}$ strength was measured and a lower limit of the centroid is established. State-of-the-art shell-model calculations are performed and predict a $\ensuremath{\pi}{f}_{7/2}$ strength that lies too high in energy in comparison to our experimental results.

The N=48 ^{80}Ge nucleus is studied by means of β-delayed electron-conversion spectroscopy at ALTO. The radioactive ^{80}Ga beam is produced through the isotope separation on line photofission technique and collected on a movable tape for the measurement of γ and e^{-} emission following β decay. An electric monopole E0 transition, which points to a 639(1) keV intruder 0_{2}^{+} state, is observed for the first time. This new state is lower than the 2_{1}^{+} level in ^{80}Ge, and provides evidence of shape coexistence close to one of the most neutron-rich doubly magic nuclei discovered so far, ^{78}Ni. This result is compared with theoretical estimates, helping to explain the role of monopole and quadrupole forces in the weakening of the N=50 gap at Z=32. The evolution of intruder 0_{2}^{+} states towards ^{78}Ni is discussed.

The rapid neutron nucleosynthesis process involves an enormous amount of very exotic neutron-rich nuclei, which represent a theoretical and experimental challenge. Two of the main decay properties that affect the final abundance distribution the most are half-lives and neutron branching ratios. Using fragmentation of a primary $^{238}$U beam at GSI we were able to measure such properties for several neutron-rich nuclei from $^{208}$Hg to $^{218}$Pb. This contribution provides a short update on the status of the data analysis of this experiment, together with a compilation of the latest results published in this mass region, both experimental and theoretical. The impact of the uncertainties connected with the beta-decay rates and with beta-delayed neutron emission is illustrated on the basis of $r$-process network calculations. In order to obtain a reasonable reproduction of the third $r$-process peak, it is expected that both half-lives and neutron branching ratios are substantially smaller, than those based on FRDM+QRPA, commonly used in $r$-process model calculations. Further measurements around $N\sim126$ are required for a reliable modelling of the underlying nuclear structure, and for performing more realistic $r$-process abundance calculations., Comment: Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics VI, Lisbon 2013, Conference Proceedings

International audience; The β-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron rich Hg and Tl nuclei have been measured together with β-decay half-lives for 20 isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in the mass region N≳126. These are the heaviest species where neutron emission has been observed so far. These measurements provide key information to evaluate the performance of nuclear microscopic and phenomenological models in reproducing the high-energy part of the β-decay strength distribution. This provides important constraints on global theoretical models currently used in r-process nucleosynthesis.

New measurements of very exotic nuclei in the neutron-rich region beyond N=126 have been performed at the GSI facility with the fragment separator (FRS). The aim of the experiment is to determine half-lives and β-delayed neutron emission branching ratios of isotopes of Hg, Tl and Pb in this region. This contribution summarizes final counting statistics for identification and for implantation, as well as the present status of the data analysis of the half-lives. In summary, isotopes of Pt, Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, Po, At, Rn and Fr were clearly identified and several of them (208-211Hg, 211-215Tl, 214-218Pb) were implanted with enough statistics to determine their half-lives. About half of them are expected to be neutron emitters, in such cases it will become possible to obtain the neutron emission probabilities, Pn. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

International audience; A multi detection system consisted of 90 3He counters, gamma detector and beta detector has been installed at beamline of the accelerator complex ALTO. The system allows performing direct measurements of probability of delayed neutron emission from spontaneous fission fragments. A trial experiment was carried out to test the detection system created.

Neutron detectors with (3)He-filled proportional counters are described. The use of these detectors in measuring the probability of neutron emission (in particular, multiparticle neutron emission) after the beta decay of neutron-rich nuclei and in studying rare events of spontaneous fission of superheavy nuclei is considered.

This contribution summarizes an experiment performed at GSI (Germany) in the neutron-rich region beyond N=126. The aim of this measurement is to provide the nuclear physics input of relevance for r-process model calculations, aiming at a better understanding of the third r-process abundance peak. Many exotic nuclei were measured around 211Hg and 215Tl. Final ion identification diagrams are given in this contribution. For most of them, we expect to derive halflives and and β-delayed neutron emission probabilities. The detectors used in this experiment were the Silicon IMplantation and Beta Absorber (SIMBA) detector, based on an array of highly segmented silicon detectors, and the BEta deLayEd Neutron (BELEN) detector, which consisted of 30 3He counters embedded in a polyethylene matrix.