-The spallation residues produced in the bombardment of 56 F e at 1.5, 1.0, 0.75, 0.5 and 0.3 A GeV on a liquid-hydrogen target have been measured using the reverse kinematics technique and the Fragment Separator at GSI (Darmstadt). This technique has permitted the full identification in charge and mass of all isotopes produced with cross-sections larger than 10 −2 mb down to Z = 8. Their individual production cross-sections and recoil velocities at the five energies are presented. Production cross-sections are compared to previously existing data and to empirical parametric formulas, often used in cosmic-ray astrophysics. The experimental data are also extensively compared to different combinations of intra-nuclear cascade and de-excitation models. It is shown that the yields of the lightest isotopes cannot be accounted for by standard evaporation models. The GEMINI model, which includes an asymmetric fission decay mode, gives an overall good agreement with the data. These experimental data can be directly used for the estimation of composition modifications and damages in materials containing iron in spallation sources. They are also useful for improving high precision cosmic-ray measurements.

The development of high-intensity lasers has opened the field of nuclear reactions initiated by laser-accelerated particles. One possible application is the production of aneutronic fusion reactions for clean fusion energy production. We propose an innovative scheme based on the use of two targets and present the first results obtained with the ELFIE facility (at the LULI Laboratory) for the proton–boron-11 (p–11B) fusion reaction. A proton beam, accelerated by the Target Normal Sheat Acceleration mechanism using a short laser pulse (12 J, 350 fs, 1.056 µm, 1019 W cm−2), is sent onto a boron target to initiate fusion reactions. The number of reactions is measured with particle diagnostics such as CR39 track-detectors, active nuclear diagnostic, Thomson Parabola, magnetic spectrometer, and time-of-flight detectors that collect the fusion products: the α-particles. Our experiment shows promising results for this scheme. In the present paper, we discuss its principle and advantages compared with another scheme that uses a single target and heating mechanisms directly with photons to initiate the same p–11B fusion reaction.

The isotopic distributions and recoil velocities of the fission fragments produced in the spallation reaction 208 P b + p at 500 A MeV have been measured using the inverse-kinematics technique, a lead beam onto a liquid-hydrogen target, and the high-resolution spectrometer FRS at GSI. The shapes of the different distributions are found in good agreement with previously published data while the deduced total fission cross-section is higher than expected from existing systematics and some previous measurements. From the experimental data, the characteristics of the average fissioning system can be reconstructed in charge, mass and excitation energy, and the average number of post-fission neutrons can be inferred. The results are also compared to different models describing the spallation reaction. The intranuclear cascade code INCL4 followed by the de-excitation code ABLA is shown to describe reasonably well the evolution of the isotopic distribution shapes between 500 and 1000 A MeV.

The nuclide cross sections and the longitudinal velocity distributions of residues produced in the reactions of 136 Xe and 124 Xe at 1 A GeV in a lead target were measured at the highresolution magnetic spectrometer, the Fragment Separator (FRS) of GSI. The data cover a broad range of isotopes of the elements between Z = 3 and Z = 56 for 136 Xe and between Z = 5 and Z = 55 for 124 Xe, reaching down to cross sections of a few microbarns. The velocity distributions exhibit a Gaussian shape for masses above A = 20, while more complex behaviour is observed for lighter masses. The isotopic distributions for both reactions preserve a memory on the projectile N/Z ratio over the whole residue mass range.

Laser-accelerated ion beams can be used in many applications and, especially, to initiate nuclear reactions out of thermal equilibrium. We have experimentally studied aneutronic fusion reactions induced by protons accelerated by the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration mechanism, colliding with a boron target. Such experiments require a rigorous method to identify the reaction products (alpha particles) collected in detectors among a few other ion species such as protons or carbon ions, for example. CR-39 track detectors are widely used because they are mostly sensitive to ions and their efficiency is near 100%. We present a complete calibration of CR-39 track detector for protons, alpha particles, and carbon ions. We give measurements of their track diameters for energy ranging from hundreds of keV to a few MeV and for etching times between 1 and 8 h. We used these results to identify alpha particles in our experiments on proton-boron fusion reactions initiated by laser-accelerated protons. We show that their number clearly increases when the boron fuel is preformed in a plasma state.

The A/Z dependence of projectile fragmentation at relativistic energies has been studied with the ALADIN forward spectrometer at SIS. A stable beam of (124)Sn and radioactive beams of (124)La and (107)Sn at 600 MeV per nucleon have been used in order to explore a wide range of isotopic compositions. Chemical freeze-out temperatures are found to be nearly invariant with respect to the A/Z of the produced spectator sources, consistent with predictions for expanded systems. Small Coulomb effects (DeltaT approximately 0.6 MeV) appear for residue production near the onset of multifragmentation.

The spallation of 56 Fe in collisions with hydrogen at 1 A GeV has been studied in inverse kinematics with the large-aperture setup SPALADIN at GSI. Coincidences of residues with low-center-ofmass kinetic energy light particles and fragments have been measured allowing the decomposition of the total reaction cross-section into the different possible de-excitation channels. Detailed information on the evolution of these de-excitation channels with excitation energy has also been obtained. The comparison of the data with predictions of several de-excitation models coupled to the INCL4 intra-nuclear cascade model shows that only GEMINI can reasonably account for the bulk of collected results, indicating that in a light system with no compression and little angular momentum, multifragmentation might not be necessary to explain the data. Spallation reactions play an important role in many domains ranging from astrophysics to intense neutron sources. Proton-induced reactions are also a way to study the de-excitation mechanism of a nucleus in a single hot source, and with less dynamical effects than in nucleusnucleus collisions. They are often described as a 2-step model, with an intra-nuclear cascade (INC) phase followed by a de-excitation phase. Inclusive data on light particles emitted in the spallation process and, more recently, data on spallation residues, helped considerably in improving the models [1]. However, these are not sufficient to provide a real insight into the reaction mechanism and the discrepancies observed between data and codes cannot be interpreted unambiguously with inclusive data. This is in particular due to the fact that the final observables are often both influenced by the cascade phase (especially by the remnant excitation energy) and by the de-excitation phase. A few more exclusive measurements exist but are generally limited to the study of the most violent collisions representing a small part of the total reaction cross-section (for a review see e.g. [2]).The need for a better understanding of spallation reactions motivated the design of the SPALADIN setup at GSI, which aims at measuring in inverse kinematics and in coincidence all the spallation products with a low center-of-mass (c.m.) kinetic energy, from neutrons to heavy residues. The restriction to low c.m. energies, in fact due to geometrical acceptance limitations, largely favors the detection of particles from the de-excitation rather than the cascade phase. This allows to use the particle multiplicities as an indication of the excitation energy (E ⋆ ) at the end of the cascade stage.The SPALADIN setup, partially described in [3], is based on the inverse kinematics technique where the ion beam is projected onto a liquid hydrogen target. The use of the large acceptance dipole magnet ALADIN permits to select the particles with a low c.m. kinetic energy. Among other detectors, the setup comprises the large area neutron detector LAND, which provides neutron multiplicities, a time-of-flight wall and the multitrack and multiple-sampl...

Imaging plates (IPs) are commonly used as passive detectors in laser-plasma experiments. We calibrated at the ELSA electron beam facility (CEA DIF) the five different available types of IPs (namely, MS-SR-TR-MP-ND) to electrons from 5 to 18 MeV. In the context of diagnostic development for the PETawatt Aquitaine Laser (PETAL), we investigated the use of stacks of IP in order to increase the detection efficiency and get detection response independent from the neighboring materials such as X-ray shielding and detector supports. We also measured fading functions in the time range from a few minutes up to a few days. Finally, our results are systematically compared to GEANT4 simulations in order to provide a complete study of the IP response to electrons over the energy range relevant for PETAL experiments.