Thick target inverse kinematics approach for neutron emission

Abstract

We applied the thick target inverse kinematics method for a study of resonances decaying through neutron emission. In this approach, the time of flight of the resonant neutrons is defined by the movement of the heavy ions of low-energy beams through an extended target. As a test, we used a well-studied, because of its role in the s process in stars, 13C(α, n) reaction. The measurements demonstrated the high efficiency of the approach. The energy resolution for the 13C(α, n) excitation function was ≈60 keV, the largest contributions coming from the time structure of the beam and the thickness of the neutron detector. The measurements revealed a surprising disagreement with the R-matrix calculations based on the parameters of the recent analysis.