Calibration of a solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) with high detection threshold to search for rare events in cosmic rays

We have investigated a commercially available polymer for its suitability as a solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD). We identified that polymer to be polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and found that it has a higher detection threshold compared to many other widely used SSNTDs which makes this detector particularly suitable for rare event search in cosmic rays as it eliminates the dominant low Z background. Systematic studies were carried out to determine its charge response which is essential before any new material can be used as an SSNTD. In this paper we describe the charge response of PET to 129Xe, 78Kr and 49Ti ions from the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN, present the calibration curve for PET and characterize it as a nuclear track detector

Beam Dynamics Studies for the SCREX-ISOLDE LINAC at CERN

For the REX-ISOLDE upgrade a superconducting linac based on 101.28MHz Quarter Wave Resonators (QWRs) is foreseen downstream of the normal conducting (NC) linac. Currently the REX-ISOLDE linac can accelerate ions with a mass to charge ratio in the range of 3 < A/q < 4.5 up to an energy of 2.8 MeV/u. The upgrade aims to reach a minimum final beam energy of 10 MeV/u for A/q=4.5 in two main stages. The first stage consists of installing two cryomodules loaded with 10 cavities able to reach 5.5 MeV/u at the end of the present linac and the second consists of replacing part of the existing NC linac and adding further cryomodules. We report here on a beam dynamics study of the accelerator for the two installation stages.status: publishe

Status of the HIE-ISOLDE project at CERN

The HIE-ISOLDE project represents a major upgrade of the ISOLDE nuclear facility with a mandate to significantly improve the quality and increase the intensity and energy of radioactive nuclear beams produced at CERN. The project will expand the experimental nuclear physics programme at ISOLDE by focusing on an upgrade of the existing Radioactive ion beam EXperiment (REX) linac with a 40 MV superconducting linac comprising thirty-two niobium-on-copper sputter-coated quarter-wave resonators housed in six cryomodules. The new linac will raise the energy of post-accelerated beams from 3 MeV/u to over 10 MeV/u. The upgrade will be staged to first deliver beam energies of 5.5 MeV/u using two high-$\beta$ cryomodules placed downstream of REX, before the energy variable section of the existing linac is replaced with two low-$\beta$ cryomodules and two additional high-$\beta$ cryomodules are installed to attain over 10 MeV/u with full energy variability above 0.45 MeV/u. An overview of the project including a status summary of the different R&D activities and the schedule will outlined.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the Heavy Ion Accelerator Technology conference (HIAT) 2012, in Chicag

New xenon results of Phoenix at 28 GHz

The classical PHOENIX 28 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion Source (ECRIS) has been developed to prospect high pulsed multi charged lead ion (MCI lead) beams for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) [1,2]. The goal of the experiment is to reach 1 emA pulses of Pb27+ during 0.4 ms with a 10 Hz repetition rate. This high beam current is one order of magnitude higher than the ones available nowadays. The strategy to take up this challenge is based on an increase of the radio frequency (RF) to 28 GHz and an increase of the RF power density. A new high acceptance, high resolution analysing beam line has been coupled to PHOENIX in order to study efficiently the intense beams delivered by the source. Thus, 0.6 emA of Xe20+ has been measured in the afterglow (AFG) among 9 emA analysed in the Faraday Cup (FC). The lead production is under study and a preliminary beam of 0.6 emA of Pb24+ AFG has already been obtained. The cross check of a 3D beam simulation program and measured beam characteristics enables to estimate the beam emittance to be ~ 200 mm.mrad. The project of development of an upgraded version of PHOENIX is presented (a new ECRIS named APHOENIX)

Low-energy Coulomb excitation of 62^{62}Fe and 62^{62}Mn following in-beam decay of 62^{62}Mn

Sub-barrier Coulomb-excitation was performed on a mixed beam of $^{62}$Mn and $^{62}$Fe, following in-trap $\beta^{-}$ decay of $^{62}$Mn at REX-ISOLDE, CERN. The trapping and charge breeding times were varied in order to alter the composition of the beam, which was measured by means of an ionisation chamber at the zero-angle position of the Miniball array. A new transition was observed at 418~keV, which has been tentatively associated to a $(2^{+},3^{+})\rightarrow1^{+}_{g.s.}$ transition. This fixes the relative positions of the $\beta$-decaying $4^{+}$ and $1^{+}$ states in $^{62}$Mn for the first time. Population of the $2^{+}_{1}$ state was observed in $^{62}$Fe and the cross-section determined by normalisation to the $^{109}$Ag target excitation, confirming the $B(E2)$ value measured in recoil-distance lifetime experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Study of bound states in 12Be through low-energy 11Be(d,p)-transfer reactions

The bound states of 12Be have been studied through a 11Be(d,p)12Be transfer reaction experiment in inverse kinematics. A 2.8 MeV/u beam of 11Be was produced using the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The outgoing protons were detected with the T-REX silicon detector array. The MINIBALL germanium array was used to detect gamma rays from the excited states in 12Be. The gamma-ray detection enabled a clear identification of the four known bound states in 12Be, and each of the states has been studied individually. Differential cross sections over a large angular range have been extracted. Spectroscopic factors for each of the states have been determined from DWBA calculations and have been compared to previous experimental and theoretical results