First In-Beam Demonstration of a hybrid LaBr3/CeBr3/BGO array to measure radiative capture resonance energies in an extended gas target using a novel time of flight technique

TL;DR

This paper presents the first in-beam demonstration of a hybrid LaBr3/CeBr3/BGO scintillator array designed to precisely measure radiative capture resonance energies using a novel time-of-flight technique at TRIUMF.

Contribution

It introduces a new hybrid scintillator array that enhances timing resolution and enables precise resonance energy measurements in nuclear reactions.

Findings

Achieved ~15 mm position resolution for resonant capture

Measured the ${}^{23} ext{Na}(p, ext{γ}){}^{24} ext{Mg}$ resonance at 0.4906 MeV

Demonstrated array's potential for future radioactive beam experiments

Abstract

We have deployed a new hybrid array of LaBr3, CeBr3, and BGO scintillators for detecting $\gamma$ rays at the DRAGON recoil separator at TRIUMF. The array was developed to improve $\gamma$-ray timing resolution over the existing BGO array. This allows the average position of resonant capture in an extended gas target to be determined with $\sim$15 mm precision or better, even with five or fewer detected capture events. This, in turn, allows determination of resonant capture energies with statistical uncertainties below ${\sim} 1\%$. Here we report the results of a first in-beam demonstration of the array, measuring the $E_{cm} = 0.4906(3)$ MeV resonance in the ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}(p,\gamma){}^{24}\mathrm{Mg}$ reaction, focusing on the timing properties of the array and its anticipated performance in future experiments with radioactive beams.