Exploring the alpha cluster structure of nuclei using the thick target inverse kinematics technique for multiple alpha decays

Abstract

We explored alpha clustering in 24Mg using the reaction 20Ne+α and the Thick Target Inverse Kinematics (TTIK) technique. 20Ne beams of energy 3.7 AMeV and 11 AMeV were delivered by the K150 cyclotron at Texas A&M University. The reaction chamber was filled with 4He gas at a pressure sufficient to stop the beam before the detectors. The energy of the light reaction products was measured by three silicon detector telescopes. The time relative to the cyclotron radiofrequency was also measured. For the first time the TTIK method was used to study both single and multiple α-particle decays. New results were obtained on elastic resonant α scattering, as well as on inelastic processes leading to high excitation energy systems decaying by multiple α-particle emission. Preliminary results will be shown on events with α-multiplicity one and two.