HYTAR: A HYbrid Telescope ARray detection system for heavy ion nuclear reactions around Coulomb barrier

Characteristics and performance of a HYbrid Telescope ARray (HYTAR) detector system for heavy ions are presented. The system has been developed for the study of reaction mechanisms in nuclear physics experiments around the Coulomb barrier. HYTAR apparatus is an array of hybrid telescopes, each unit comprising of a gas ionization chamber followed by a silicon detector. Gas ionization chamber, operated in axial field mode, measures the differential energy loss ( Δ E ), while the residual energies are measured by silicon detector. Particle identification is realized by implementing Δ E -E technique. Use of gas ionization chamber as Δ E detector allows identification of reaction channels down to low energy thresholds ∼ 0.1 MeV/A in A ∼ 100 region. The detector system has been developed to investigate the fusion and fusion–fission dynamics by performing quasi-elastic scattering and fission angular distribution experiments. Processing of the detector signals is realized with compact and simple high density front-end electronics, which consists of custom developed low noise charge sensitive preamplifiers (operated inside vacuum) and differential driver NIM modules, followed by commercially available spectroscopy amplifiers, logic modules, analog to digital converters etc. Design features of the HYTAR and measurements performed with it are described in this article.