Bemmerer, D., Boeltzig, A., Grieger, M., Gudat, K., Hensel, T., Masha, E., et al. (2025). The Felsenkeller shallow-underground laboratory for nuclear astrophysics. Eur. Phys. J. A, 61(1), 19–15pp.
Abstract: In the Felsenkeller shallow-underground site, protected from cosmic muons by a 45 m thick rock overburden, a research laboratory including a 5 MV Pelletron ion accelerator and a number of radioactivity-measurement setups is located. The laboratory and its installations are described in detail. The background radiation has been studied, finding suppression factors of 40 for cosmic-ray muons, 200 for ambient neutrons, and 100 for the background in germanium gamma-ray detectors. Using an additional active muon veto, typically the background is just twice as high as in very deep underground laboratories. The properties of the accelerator including its external and internal ion sources and beam line are given. For the radioactivity counting setup, detection limits in the 10-4 Bq range have been obtained. Practical aspects for the usage of the laboratory by outside scientific users are discussed.
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Pilotto, E., Ferrer, F. J., Akhmadaliev, S., Fernandez, A., Gadea, A., Gomez Camacho, J., et al. (2025). Comparing 3He content in magnetron sputtered and implanted targets for nuclear studies. Eur. Phys. J. A, 61(5), 117–8pp.
Abstract: He-3 targets are a valuable tool in nuclear physics, particularly for studying nuclear structure and dynamics via direct reactions in inverse kinematics. However, they are often prone to degradation under intense beam irradiation and have insufficient He-3 content for use with lowintensity exotic beams. In a recent AGATA experiment at LNL, designed to study the astrophysically relevant lifetime of a O-15 excited state, two types of He-3 targets were tested. One was produced using ion implantation and the other with a novel magnetron sputtering technique, in both cases on Au substrates. Following irradiation with a stable O-16 beam, they were characterized using Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) and Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA). Results demonstrated that, under the here used fabrication conditions, sputtered targets present a higher He-3 content, while implanted ones exhibit thinner profiles. This highlights the possibilities and complementarity of these targets, suggesting their tailored use for future experimental campaigns.
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