In heavy nuclei internal conversion becomes an important and often dominant process. Thus a great deal of experimental information can be obtained from simultaneous gamma ray and electron spectroscopy in the same experiment. To this end the SAGE Spectrometer was built and installed at Jyväskylä. It has been used extensively for a number of years now and has become a workhorse instrument. I will explain the design criteria and choices and illustrate the experimental capabilities with examples from the nobelium region and the neutron deficient lead region.

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TBA

The region of the nuclear chart in the vicinity of the doubly magic nucleus 100Sn is of great interest in nuclear structure studies. Decay property measurements of the N ≈ Z neutron-deficient nuclei in this region can serve as a direct test of the shell model and assist in establishing the location of the proton drip-line. An experiment at the Radioactive Ion Beam Factory (RIBF) facility at RIKEN was carried out to perform these measurements with the state-of-the-art Advanced Implantation Detector Array (AIDA) silicon detection system. This seminar will describe the experiment and results obtained from analysis of data collected primarily with AIDA, presenting the first use and characterisation of this system on proton-rich nuclei at RIKEN.

Studies of nuclear structure provide an important window into the strong nuclear force. One powerful way to experimentally probe nuclear structure is through measuring the mass of the atomic nucleus, which reveals the binding energy of the nucleus. In this talk, I will describe the TITAN facility and focus on two experimental campaigns that employed the TITAN MR-ToF MS and are related to nuclear structure. In the first campaign, mass measurements of neutron-rich Mg and Na isotopes are carried out enabling us to shed more light on the N=20 island of inversion. The second work combines mass measurements and decay energies and allows us to trace the two-proton dripline between iridium and lead, thus determining the limits of existence for elements with Z = 77-82 on the proton-rich side of the nuclear chart.

Beyond studies of nuclear structure, TITAN can perform higher precision mass measurements (δm/m<10-7) for answering questions related to fundamental symmetries. In the second part of the talk, I will describe the technical developments of the TITAN Penning trap in order to reach a δm/m<10-9 precision, using highly charged ions and the Phase-Imaging Ion-Cyclotron-Resonance (PI-ICR) technique.

Improved inelastic neutron scattering and neutron-induced gamma ray production data are needed for the next generation of nuclear technologies, from advanced reactors to space exploration, shielding applications, and detection platforms based on prompt neutron interrogation analysis. The Gamma Energy Neutron Energy Spectrometer for Inelastic Scattering (GENESIS) located at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at LBNL is an experimental platform containing organic liquid scintillators for measurements of secondary neutron energy/angle distributions and high-purity germanium detectors for simultaneous measurements of gamma-ray production cross sections. Experiments with a 99.98%-enriched 56Fe target were performed at GENESIS with a broad-energy, collimated, time-resolved neutron beam from 14 MeV thick-target deuteron break-up (TTDB) on carbon. This talk will cover the characteristics of the array and the development of a validated GEANT4 model which is used to calculate detector response functions for use in a forward-modeling analysis framework. Differential gamma-ray production cross sections obtained using conventional analysis techniques and preliminary secondary neutron energy/angle distributions obtained using a forward-modeling approach will also be presented. Finally, the possibilities for secondary neutron/gamma coincidence measurements will be briefly discussed.

Type-I X-ray bursts are the explosive outcome of neutron stars accreting material from a binary companion star, and are the most commonly observed thermonuclear events in our night sky.  The transfer of material from the companion star perturbs the neutron star and leads to distinct variations in the behaviour of the neutron star. This makes it the perfect laboratory for studying the properties of neutron stars. Understanding the burst behaviour (luminosity curve, frequency etc.) and the subsequent cooling profile of the accreted crust of the neutron star is contingent on precise knowledge of the nuclear physics which underpin these events. I will discuss the nuclear physics needs, the current state of knowledge and future measurements.

In the past decades, the bombardment of thin, heavy-element foils by high current beams of

48Ca has led to the discovery of six new superheavy elements (Z=113 to 118). Currently

proposed methods of pushing the periodic table further will require high-current beams of

neutron-rich isotopes with atomic numbers greater than calcium. At LBNL, the operations

group has been working to develop high-current beams of elements that could be used for

possible future superheavy element searches. The physical properties of these elements make

them particularly challenging to produce at the source, and our methods of addressing these

challenges will be discussed. The current status of beam production and next steps at LBNL

will be presented as will a summary of other laboratories’ efforts that were recently reported at

the International Conference on Ion Sources.