Wu, J. et al, Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Morales, A. I., Orrigo, S. E. A., Tain, J. L., et al. (2022). First observation of isomeric states in 111Zr, 113Nb, and 115Mo. Phys. Rev. C, 106(6), 064328–5pp.
Abstract: Isomeric states in the neutron-rich nuclei 111Zr [T1/2 = 0.10(7) μs], 113Nb [T1/2 = 0.7(4) μs], 115Mo [T1/2 = 46(3) μs] were first identified at the Radioactive Ion Beam Factory (RIBF) of RIKEN by using in-flight fission and fragmentation of a 238U beam at an energy of 345 MeV/u. This is a brief report of the gamma transitions de -exciting from isomeric states and half-lives measurements, which provides the first spectroscopy in the nuclear region of prolate-to-oblate shape-phase transition around mass A approximate to 110.
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Yokoyama, R. et al, Tain, J. L., Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Domingo-Pardo, C., Morales, A. I., et al. (2023). β-delayed neutron emissions from N > 50 gallium isotopes. Phys. Rev. C, 108(6), 064307–15pp.
Abstract: beta-delayed gamma-neutron spectroscopy has been performed on the decay of A=84 to 87 gallium isotopes at the RI-beam Factory at the RIKEN Nishina Center using a high-efficiency array of 3He neutron counters (BRIKEN). beta-2n-gamma events were measured in the decays of all of the four isotopes for the first time, which is direct evidence for populating the excited states of two-neutron daughter nuclei. Detailed decay schemes with the gamma branching ratios were obtained for these isotopes, and the neutron emission probabilities (P-xn) were updated from the previous study. Hauser-Feshbach statistical model calculations were performed to understand the experimental branching ratios. We found that the P-1n and P-2n values are sensitive to the nuclear level densities of 1n daughter nuclei and showed that the statistical model reproduced the P-2n/P-1n ratio better when experimental levels plus shell-model level densities fit by the Gilbert-Cameron formula were used as the level-density input. We also showed the neutron and gamma branching ratios are sensitive to the ground-state spin of the parent nucleus. Our statistical model analysis suggested J <= 3 for the unknown ground-state spin of the odd-odd nucleus Ga-86, from the I gamma(4(+)-> 2(+))/I-gamma(2(+)-> 0(+)) ratio of Ga-84 and the P-2n/P-1n ratio. These results show the necessity of detailed understanding of the decay scheme, including data from neutron spectroscopy, in addition to gamma measurements of the multineutron emitters.
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Kowalska, M., Naimi, S., Agramunt, J., Algora, A., Beck, D., Blank, B., et al. (2012). Trap-assisted decay spectroscopy with ISOLTRAP. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 689, 102–107.
Abstract: Penning traps are excellent high-precision mass spectrometers for radionuclides. The high-resolving power used for cleaning isobaric and even isomeric contaminants can be exploited to improve decay-spectroscopy studies by delivering purified samples. An apparatus allowing trap-assisted decay spectroscopy has been coupled to the ISOLTRAP mass spectrometer at ISOLDE/CERN. The results from studies with stable and radioactive ions show that the setup can be used to perform decay studies on purified short-lived nuclides and to assist mass measurements.
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Luo, X. L. et al, Agramunt, J., Egea, F. J., Gadea, A., & Huyuk, T. (2014). Test of digital neutron-gamma discrimination with four different photomultiplier tubes for the NEutron Detector Array (NEDA). Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 767, 83–91.
Abstract: A comparative study of the neutron-gamma discrimination performance of a liquid scintillator detector BC501A coupled to four different 5 in photomultiplier tubes (ET9390kb, R11833-100, XP4512 and R4144) was carried out Both the Charge Comparison method and the Integrated Rise-Time method were implemented digitally to discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays emitted by a Cf-252 source. In both methods, the neutron-gamma discrimination capabilities of the four photomultiplier tubes were quantitatively compared by evaluating their figure-of-merit values at different energy regions between 50 keVee and 1000 keVee. Additionally, the results were further verified qualitatively using time-of-flight to distinguish gamma rays and neutrons. The results consistently show that photomultiplier tubes R11833-100 and ET9390kb generally perform best regarding neutron-gamma discrimination with only slight differences in figure-of-merit values. This superiority can be explained by their relatively higher photoelectron yield, which indicates that a scintillator detector coupled to a photomultiplier tube with higher photoelectron yield tends to result in better neutron-gamma discrimination performance. The results of this work will provide reference for the choice of photomultiplier tubes for future neutron detector arrays like NEDA.
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Tain, J. L., Agramunt, J., Algora, A., Aprahamian, A., Cano-Ott, D., Fraile, L. M., et al. (2015). The sensitivity of LaBr3:Ce scintillation detectors to low energy neutrons: Measurement and Monte Carlo simulation. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 774, 17–24.
Abstract: The neutron sensitivity of a cylindrical circle minus 1.5 in x 1.5 in LaBr3:Ce scintillation detector was measured using quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams in the energy range from 40 keV to 2.5 MeV. In this energy range the detector is sensitive to gamma-rays generated in neutron inelastic and capture processes. The experimental energy response was compared with Monte Carlo simulations performed with the Geant4 simulation toolkit using the so-called High Precision Neutron Models. These models rely on relevant information stored in evaluated nuclear data libraries. The performance of the Geant4 Neutron Data Library as well as several standard nuclear data libraries was investigated. In the latter case this was made possible by the use of a conversion tool that allowed the direct use of the data from other libraries in Geant4. Overall it was found that there was good agreement with experiment for some of the neutron data bases like ENDF/B-VII.0 or JENDL-3.3 but not with the others such as ENDF/B-VI.8 or JEFF-3.1.
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Tain, J. L., Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Guadilla, V., Jordan, M. D., Montaner-Piza, A., et al. (2015). A decay total absorption spectrometer for DESPEC at FAIR. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 803, 36–46.
Abstract: This paper presents the design of a total absorption gamma-ray spectrometer for the determination of beta-decay intensity distributions of exotic nuclear species at the focal plane of the FAIR-NUSTAR Super Fragment Separator. The spectrometer is a key instrument in the DESPEC experiment and the proposed implementation follows extensive design studies and prototype tests. Two options were contemplated, based on Nal(TI) and LaBr3:Ce inorganic scintillation crystals respectively. Monte Carlo simulations and technical considerations determined the optimal configurations consisting of sixteen 15 x 15 x 25 cm(3) crystals for the Nal(Tl) option and one hundred and twenty-eight 5.5 x 5.5 x 11 cm(3) crystals for the LaBr3:Ce option. Minimization of dead material was crucial for maximizing the spectrometer full-energy peak efficiency. Module prototypes were build to verify constructional details and characterize their performance. The measured energy and timing resolution was found to agree rather well with estimates based on simulations of scintillation light transport and collection. The neutron sensitivity of the spectrometer, important when measuring beta-delayed neutron emitters, was investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations.
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Agramunt, J. et al, Tain, J. L., Albiol, F., Algora, A., Domingo-Pardo, C., Jordan, M. D., et al. (2016). Characterization of a neutron-beta counting system with beta-delayed neutron emitters. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 807, 69–78.
Abstract: A new detection system for the measurement of beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities has been characterized using fission products with well known beta-delayed neutron emission properties. The setup consists of BELEN-20, a 4 pi-neutron counter with twenty He-3 proportional tubes arranged inside a large polyethylene neutron moderator, a thin Si detector for beta counting and a self-triggering digital data acquisition system. The use of delayed-neutron precursors with different neutron emission windows allowed the study of the effect of energy dependency on neutron, beta and beta-neutron rates. The observed effect is well reproduced by Monte Carlo simulations. The impact of this dependency on the accuracy of neutron emission probabilities is discussed. A new accurate value of the neutron emission probability for the important delayed-neutron precursor I-137 was obtained, P-n = 7.76(14)%.
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Guadilla, V. et al, Algora, A., Tain, J. L., Agramunt, J., Jordan, D., Monserrate, M., et al. (2017). Characterization of a cylindrical plastic beta-detector with Monte Carlo simulations of optical photons. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 854, 134–138.
Abstract: In this work we report on the Monte Carlo study performed to understand and reproduce experimental measurements of a new plastic beta-detector with cylindrical geometry. Since energy deposition simulations differ from the experimental measurements for such a geometry, we show how the simulation of production and transport of optical photons does allow one to obtain the shapes of the experimental spectra. Moreover, taking into account the computational effort associated with this kind of simulation, we develop a method to convert the simulations of energy deposited into light collected, depending only on the interaction point in the detector. This method represents a useful solution when extensive simulations have to be done, as in the case of the calculation of the response function of the spectrometer in a total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy analysis.
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Luo, X. L. et al, Agramunt, J., Egea, F. J., Gadea, A., & Huyuk, T. (2018). Pulse pile-up identification and reconstruction for liquid scintillator based neutron detectors. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 897, 59–65.
Abstract: The issue of pulse pile-up is frequently encountered in nuclear experiments involving high counting rates, which will distort the pulse shapes and the energy spectra. A digital method of off-line processing of pile-up pulses is presented. The pile-up pulses were firstly identified by detecting the downward-going zero-crossings in the first-order derivative of the original signal, and then the constituent pulses were reconstructed based on comparing the pile-up pulse with four models that are generated by combining pairs of neutron and.. standard pulses together with a controllable time interval. The accuracy of this method in resolving the pile-up events was investigated as a function of the time interval between two pulses constituting a pile-up event. The obtained results show that the method is capable of disentangling two pulses with a time interval among them down to 20 ns, as well as classifying them as neutrons or gamma rays. Furthermore, the error of reconstructing pile-up pulses could be kept below 6% when successive peaks were separated by more than 50 ns. By applying the method in a high counting rate of pile-up events measurement of the NEutron Detector Array (NEDA), it was empirically found that this method can reconstruct the pile-up pulses and perform neutron-gamma discrimination quite accurately. It can also significantly correct the distorted pulse height spectrum due to pile-up events.
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Rasco, B. C., Brewer, N. T., Yokoyama, R., Grzywacz, R., Rykaczewski, K. P., Tolosa-Delgado, A., et al. (2018). The ORNL analysis technique for extracting beta-delayed multi-neutron branching ratios with BRIKEN. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 911, 79–86.
Abstract: Many choices are available in order to evaluate large radioactive decay networks. There are many parameters that influence the calculated beta-decay delayed single and multi-neutron emission branching fractions. We describe assumptions about the decay model, background, and other parameters and their influence on beta-decay delayed multi-neutron emission analysis. An analysis technique, the ORNL BRIKEN analysis procedure, for determining beta-delayed multi-neutron branching ratios in beta-neutron precursors produced by means of heavy-ion fragmentation is presented. The technique is based on estimating the initial activities of zero, one, and two neutrons occurring in coincidence with an ion-implant and beta trigger. The technique allows one to extract beta-delayed multi-neutron decay branching ratios measured with the He-3 BRIKEN neutron counter. As an example, two analyses of the beta-neutron emitter Cu-77 based on different a priori assumptions are presented along with comparisons to literature values.
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