The ACtive TARget and Time Projection Chamber (ACTAR TPC) is a novel gas-filled detector that has recently been constructed at GANIL. This versatile detector is a gaseous thick target that allows the ...tracking of charged particles in three dimensions and provides a precise reaction energy reconstruction from the vertex position. A commissioning experiment using resonant scattering of a 3.2MeV/nucleon 18O beam on an isobutane gas (proton) target was performed. The beam and the heavy scattered ions were stopped in the gas volume, while the light recoil left the active volume and were stopped in auxiliary silicon detectors. A dedicated tracking algorithm was applied to determine the angle of emission and the length of the trajectory of the ions, to reconstruct the reaction kinematics used to built the excitation functions of the 1H(18O, 18O)1H and 1H(18O, 15N)4He reactions. In this article, we describe the design of the detector and the data analysis, that resulted in center of mass reaction energy resolutions of 38(4)keV FWHM and 54(9)keV FWHM for the proton and alpha channels, respectively.
Abstract
Proton radioactivity was discovered exactly 50 years ago. First, this nuclear decay mode sets the limit of existence on the nuclear landscape on the neutron-deficient side. Second, it ...comprises fundamental aspects of both quantum tunnelling as well as the coupling of (quasi)bound quantum states with the continuum in mesoscopic systems such as the atomic nucleus. Theoretical approaches can start either from bound-state nuclear shell-model theory or from resonance scattering. Thus, proton-radioactivity guides merging these types of theoretical approaches, which is of broader relevance for any few-body quantum system. Here, we report experimental measurements of proton-emission branches from an isomeric state in
54m
Ni, which were visualized in four dimensions in a newly developed detector. We show that these decays, which carry an unusually high angular momentum, ℓ = 5 and ℓ = 7, respectively, can be approximated theoretically with a potential model for the proton barrier penetration and a shell-model calculation for the overlap of the initial and final wave functions.
The inverse kinematics technique, applied to radioactive beams and combined to the Coulomb excitation method, is a powerful tool to study low-energy fission. A novel experimental setup was developed ...within the R3B/SOFIA (Reactions with Relativistic Radioactive Beams/Studies On FIssion with Aladin) collaboration to identify in mass and atomic numbers both fission fragments in coincidence. These new data provide elemental, isobaric, and isotonic yields for the fission along the thorium isotopic chain. Results are also compared to previous measurements using either the same reaction mechanism or thermal-neutron induced fission. This latter comparison permits to probe the influence of the excitation energy in the fission process.
The design, realization and operation of a prototype or “demonstrator” version of an active target and time projection chamber (ACTAR TPC) for experiments in nuclear physics is presented in detail. ...The heart of the detection system features a micromegas gas amplifier coupled to a high-density pixelated pad plane with square pad sizes of 2 × 2 mm2. The detector has been thoroughly tested with several different gas mixtures over a wide range of pressures and using a variety of sources of ionizing radiation including laser light, an α-particle source and heavy-ion beams of 24Mg and 58Ni accelerated to energies of 4.0 MeV/u. Results from these tests and characterization of the detector response over a wide range of operating conditions will be described. These developments have served as the basis for the design of a larger detection system that is presently under construction.
Over the past decade, inverse kinematics has been increasingly employed in experimental studies of fission. This approach has yielded a wealth of new observables that can be obtained in single ...measurements, enabling their analysis and correlations. One ongoing application of this technique involves a series of experiments performed at GANIL using the variable-mode, large-acceptance VAMOS++ spectrometer. A recent experiment focused on examining the survival of nuclear structure effects at high excitation energy in both fission and quasi-fission. The results of the study involved a full isotopic identification of fragments, as well as an analysis of the elemental yields their relation to fission dynamics. The results indicate that fission and quasi-fission involve different mechanisms, which could be exploited to distinguish between the two phenomena.
The energy loss profiles of different ion beams (6Li, 27Al and 50Ti) impinging on CF4, isobutane and P10 have been measured with the active target ACTAR TPC demonstrator. The pressure of the gas, ...monitored during the experiment, has been chosen in order to stop the ions inside the active zone. Starting from the energy loss calculation produced by the SRIM code, the experimental ion tracks have been simulated, taking into account the effect of the thermal diffusion of electrons during their drift towards the pad plane under the effect of a uniform electric field. The uncertainty in the geometry, mainly due to the thickness and deformation of the mylar interface window between the gas volume and the high vacuum line, has been taken into account. A good agreement is obtained between the experimental and simulated energy loss profiles.
The Spanish Quality Assurance Program applied to the process of donation after brain death entails an internal stage consisting of a continuous clinical chart review of deaths in critical care units ...(CCUs) performed by transplant coordinators and periodical external audits to selected centers. This paper describes the methodology and provides the most relevant results of this program, with information analyzed from 206,345 CCU deaths. According to the internal audit, 2.3% of hospital deaths and 12.4% of CCU deaths in Spain yield potential donors (clinical criteria consistent with brain death). Out of the potential donors, 54.6% become actual donors, 26% are lost due to medical unsuitability, 13.3% due to refusals to donation, 3.1% due to maintenance problems and 3% due to other reasons. Although the national pool of potential donors after brain death has progressively decreased from 65.2 per million population (pmp) in 2001 to 49 pmp in 2010, the number of actual donors after brain death has remained at about 30 pmp. External audits reveal that the number of actual donors could be 21.6% higher if all potential donors were identified and preventable losses avoided. We encourage other countries to develop similar comprehensive approaches to deceased donation performance.
The Spanish Quality Assurance Program applied to the process of donation after brain death represents a systematic, continuous and sustainable approach for a comprehensive assessment of this process, allowing for the estimation of the potential of donation, the analysis of performance and the identification of areas for improvement.
PDF
