Exploring the alpha cluster structure of nuclei using the thick target inverse kinematics technique for multiple alpha decays

¹ Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, 3366 TAMU, College Station, Texas, USA
² Institute of modern physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China

Published online: 20 March 2014

Abstract

We explored alpha clustering in ²⁴Mg using the reaction ²⁰Ne+α and the Thick Target Inverse Kinematics (TTIK) technique. ²⁰Ne beams of energy 3.7 AMeV and 11 AMeV were delivered by the K150 cyclotron at Texas A&M University. The reaction chamber was filled with ⁴He gas at a pressure sufficient to stop the beam before the detectors. The energy of the light reaction products was measured by three silicon detector telescopes. The time relative to the cyclotron radiofrequency was also measured. For the first time the TTIK method was used to study both single and multiple α-particle decays. New results were obtained on elastic resonant α scattering, as well as on inelastic processes leading to high excitation energy systems decaying by multiple α-particle emission. Preliminary results will be shown on events with α-multiplicity one and two.