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Fernandez, A., Hufschmidt, D., Colaux, J. L., Valiente-Dobon, J. J., Godinho, V., Jimenez de Haro, M. C., et al. (2020). Low gas consumption fabrication of He-3 solid targets for nuclear reactions. Mater. Des., 186, 108337–10pp.
Abstract: Nanoporous solids that stabilize trapped gas nanobubbles open new possibilities to fabricate solid targets for nuclear reactions. A methodology is described based on the magnetron sputtering (MS) technique operated under quasistatic flux conditions to produce such nanocomposites films with He-3 contents of up to 16 at.% in an amorphous-silicon matrix. In addition to the characteristic low pressure (3-6 Pa) needed for the gas discharge, the method ensures almost complete reduction of the process gas flow during film fabrication. The method could produce similar materials to those obtained under classical dynamic flux conditions for MS. The drastic reduction (>99.5%) of the gas consumption is fundamental for the fabrication of targets with scarce and expensive gases. Si:He-3 and W:He-3 targets are presented together with their microstructural (scanning and transmission electron microscopy, SEM and TEM respectively) and compositional (Ion Beam Analysis, IBA) characterization. The He-3 content achieved was over 1 x 10(18) at/cm(2) for film thicknesses between 1.5 and 3 μm for both Si and W matrices. First experiments to probe the stability of the targets for nuclear reaction studies in inverse kinematics configurations are presented.
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Ljungvall, J., Perez-Vidal, R. M., Lopez-Martens, A., Michelagnoli, C., Clement, E., Dudouet, J., et al. (2020). Performance of the Advanced GAmma Tracking Array at GANIL. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 955, 163297–13pp.
Abstract: The performance of the Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) at GANIL is discussed, on the basis of the analysis of source and in-beam data taken with up to 30 segmented crystals. Data processing is described in detail. The performance of individual detectors are shown. The efficiency of the individual detectors as well as the efficiency after gamma-ray tracking are discussed. Recent developments of gamma-ray tracking are also presented. The experimentally achieved peak-to-total is compared with simulations showing the impact of back-scattered gamma rays on the peak-to-total in a gamma-ray tracking array. An estimate of the achieved position resolution using the Doppler broadening of in-beam data is also given. Angular correlations from source measurements are shown together with different methods to take into account the effects of gamma-ray tracking on the normalization of the angular correlations.
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AGATA Collaboration(Siciliano, M. et al), Gadea, A., Perez-Vidal, R. M., & Domingo-Pardo, C. (2020). Pairing-quadrupole interplay in the neutron-deficient tin nuclei: First lifetime measurements of low-lying states in Sn-106,Sn-108. Phys. Lett. B, 806, 135474–7pp.
Abstract: 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.
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AGATA Collaboration(Avigo, R. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Gadea, A., & Gonzalez, V. (2020). Low-lying electric dipole gamma-continuum for the unstable Fe-62(,)64 nuclei: Strength evolution with neutron number. Phys. Lett. B, 811, 135951–6pp.
Abstract: The gamma-ray emission from the nuclei Fe-62,Fe-64 following Coulomb excitation at bombarding energy of 400-440 AMeV was measured with special focus on E1 transitions in the energy region 4-8 MeV. The unstable neutron-rich nuclei Fe-62,Fe-64 were produced at the FAIR-GSI laboratories and selected with the FRS spectrometer. The gamma decay was detected with AGATA. From the measured gamma-ray spectra the summed E1 strength is extracted and compared to microscopic quasi-particle phonon model calculations. The trend of the E1 strength with increasing neutron number is found to be fairly well reproduced with calculations that assume a rather complex structure of the 1(-) states (three-phonon states) inducing a strong fragmentation of the E1 nuclear response below the neutron binding energy.
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Valiente-Dobon, J. J. et al, Gadea, A., & Algora, A. (2021). Manifestation of the Berry phase in the atomic nucleus Pb-213. Phys. Lett. B, 816, 136183–5pp.
Abstract: The neutron-rich Pb-213 isotope was produced in the fragmentation of a primary 1 GeV A U-238 beam, separated in FRS in mass and atomic number, and then implanted for isomer decay gamma-ray spectroscopy with the RISING setup at GSI. A newly observed isomer and its measured decay properties indicate that states in Pb-213 are characterized by the seniority quantum number that counts the nucleons not in pairs coupled to angular momentum J = 0. The conservation of seniority is a consequence of a geometric phase associated with particle-hole conjugation, which becomes observable in semi-magic nuclei where nucleons half-fill the valence shell. The gamma-ray spectroscopic observables in Pb-213 are thus found to be driven by two mechanisms, particle-hole conjugation and seniority conservation, which are intertwined through a Berry phase.
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