Isotopic Yield Distributions of Transfer- and Fusion-Induced Fission from 238U+12C Reactions in Inverse Kinematics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method using inverse kinematics and multi-nucleon transfer reactions to fully identify and measure isotopic yields of fission fragments from 238U+12C reactions, providing comprehensive data on fission processes.

Contribution

It presents a novel experimental technique for complete isotopic identification of fission fragments, enabling detailed analysis of fission yield distributions in actinides.

Findings

First complete isotopic yield distributions for well-defined fissioning systems.

Measurement of hundreds of isotopes with A ~ 80 to 160 and Z ~ 30 to 64.

Enhanced understanding of the nuclear fission process through precise fragment data.

Abstract

A novel method to access the complete identification in atomic number Z and mass A of fragments produced in low-energy fission of actinides is presented. This method, based on the use of multi- nucleon transfer and fusion reactions in inverse kinematics, is applied in this work to reactions between a 238U beam and a 12C target to produce and induce fission of moderately excited actinides. The fission fragments are detected and fully identified with the VAMOS spectrometer of GANIL, allowing the measurement of fragment yields of several hundreds of isotopes in a range between A ~ 80 and ~ 160, and from Z ~ 30 to ~ 64. For the first time, complete isotopic yield distributions of fragments from well-defined fissioning systems are available. Together with the precise measurement of the fragment emission angles and velocities, this technique gives further insight into the nuclear-fission process.