Neutron-induced charged-particle reaction studies in nuclear astrophysics with a Micromegas based gaseous detector

Abstract

Neutron-induced charged-particle reaction studies on various unstable nuclei play an important role in understanding various nucleosynthesis processes occurring in explosive astrophysical scenarios. We are pursuing a novel experimental approach to study neutron-induced charge particle cross-sections for various unstable nuclei at effective temperatures of 1.5-3.5 GK using the 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction as a neutron source with three orders of magnitude higher neutron intensities with respect to currently available neutron time-of-flight facilities. We plan to perform our experiments with a 10-µA proton beam at the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt facility (PTB, Germany), with a Micromegas based gaseous detector being developed.