MRI-R2: Development of a Detection System for the Recoil Mass Separator St. George

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This award will support the development of a detection system for the recoil mass separator (RMS), St George, which is being constructed at the University of Notre Dame. The RMS St George will be used to separate products of (alpha, gamma) reactions in inverse kinematics from unreacted beam particles. St George is designed to suppress beam particles by a factor of 10^12. Even with that suppression, comparable numbers of reaction products and unreacted beam particles will be delivered to the end of the RMS St George. The proposed detection system will use measurements of both energy and time-of-flight to distinguish between the various reaction products and beam particles. A broad program in nuclear astrophysics will be addressed with the proposed system. The development of the proposed detector system and its use will contribute to research training at many levels during the project duration and even more so through the experimental work by post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduates.