The determination of absolute branching ratios for high-energy states in light nuclei is an important and useful tool for probing the underlying nuclear structure of individual resonances: for example, in establishing the tendency of an excited state towards α-cluster structure. Difficulty arises in measuring these branching ratios due to similarities in available decay channels, such as ( 18 O,n) and ( 18 O,2n), as well as differences in geometric efficiencies due to population of bound excited levels in daughter nuclei. Methods are presented using Monte Carlo techniques to overcome these issues.

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The investigation of nuclei with potential α-cluster structure is of great importance to the understanding of nuclear structure, both in the testing of theoretical models and for the study of the synthesis of elements in stars. The 18O nucleus is an excellent candidate to test for such a system, and an experiment has been performed in order to determine the validity of proposed cluster bands in 18O, by measuring absolute branching ratios for high-energy excited states. In order to accurately measure these branching ratios, Monte-Carlo techniques have been employed allowing for the precision reproduction of data gathered throughout the experiment. An in-depth description of the considerations required when simulated data for these experiments and comparisons between features in real and simulated data are presented.

A series of proposed bands in 18 O with potential nuclear molecular structures, such as 14 C α or 12 C 2n α, are being investigated. This was done through the use of the Q3D magnetic spectrograph at the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory in Munich in conjunction with an array of double-sided silicon strip detectors (DSSDs). These detectors allowed for high resolution reconstruction of detected particles, enabling measurement of the branching ratios of the states that make up these bands. Here, a method is discussed for extracting the branching ratios of both material particles as well as γ-particles using the DSSD array to detect only charged decay fragments.

Where a licence is displayed above, please note the terms and conditions of the licence govern your use of this document.When citing, please reference the published version. Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive.

Undergraduate experiments provide practical demonstration of both measurement techniques and the underpinning science. The radioactive source 44Ti is particularly useful due to the range of experimental measurements it allows. Five experiments utilising 44Ti, suitable for undergraduate laboratories, are described in this paper. These illustrate several topics in nuclear physics and a number of experimental techniques, such as coincidence measurements and lifetime measurements. The experiments described require careful evaluation of the data which provide students with important analytical skills.

In this paper, a measurement of the atomic mass and mass excess of Re 75 190 are presented. This isotope and Ir 77 192 were produced at the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory (MLL) in Munich in the 192Os(d, α)190Re and 194Pt(d, α)192Ir reactions. The Q3D magnetic spectrograph was used to measure the momenta of the α-particle ejectiles in order to reconstruct states in both 190Re and 192Ir. A mass calibration was performed using known energy levels in 192Ir. These measurements were used to obtain a new value of the mass excess of 190Re, −35583 ± 5 keV. The previously known literature value is −35640 ± 70 keV.

An experiment has been performed utilising the $$^{12}$$ 12 C($$^{7}$$ 7 Li,p)$$^{18}$$ 18 O reaction to populate high-energy states in $$^{18}$$ 18 O. Using the Munich Q3D magnetic spectrograph in conjunction with the Birmingham large-angular-coverage DSSD array, branching ratios have been measured for over fifty states in $$^{18}$$ 18 O, investigating the $$\alpha $$ α -decay, n-decay, 2n-decay and $$\gamma $$ γ -decay branches. In tandem, Monte-Carlo techniques have been used to identify and separate features.