Spatial and Time Coincidence Detection of the Decay Chain of Short-Lived Radioactive Nuclei

• Main Authors: Granja, Carlos, Jakubek, Jan, Platkevic, Michal, Pospisil, Stanislav, Koester, Ulli
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACCELERATORS; ALPHA DECAY; BEAMS; BERYLLIUM 8 REACTIONS; BETA DECAY; BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; CHARGED PARTICLES; DATA ACQUISITION; DECAY; FISSION FRAGMENT SPECTROMETERS; HALF-LIFE; HEAVY ION REACTIONS; HELIUM 8 REACTIONS; ION BEAMS; IONS; ISOTOPES; LIFETIME; LIGHT NUCLEI; LITHIUM 8; LITHIUM 8 REACTIONS; LITHIUM ISOTOPES; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; MILLISECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES; NUCLEAR DECAY; NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; NUCLEAR REACTIONS; NUCLEI; ODD-ODD NUCLEI; PARTICLES; RADIOACTIVE ION BEAMS; RADIOISOTOPES; RESOLUTION; SPECTROMETERS; TIME RESOLUTION; TIMING PROPERTIES
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/1.3480249

The quantum counting position sensitive pixel detector Timepix with per-pixel energy and time resolution enables to detect radioactive ions and register the consecutive decay chain by simultaneous position-and time-correlation. This spatial and timing coincidence technique in the same sensor is demonstrated by the registration of the decay chain {sup 8}He{yields}{sup {beta} 8}Li and {sup 8}Li{yields}{sup {beta}-} {sup 8}Be{yields}{alpha}+{alpha} and by the measurement of the {beta} decay half-lives. Radioactive ions, selectively obtained from the Lohengrin fission fragment spectrometer installed at the High Flux Reactor of the ILL Grenoble, are delivered to the Timepix silicon sensor where decays of the implanted ions and daughter nuclei are registered and visualized. We measure decay lifetimes in the range {>=}{mu}s with precision limited just by counting statistics.