Abstract
The goal of designing a low background ionisation chamber is to measure long lived α-decay half-lives which might interfere with rare event searches. Such decays play a part in many fields in nuclear physics and are difficult to measure. A lot of Geiger-Nutall studies also depend on them. Among others the research is specifically aimed at the precision measurements of α emitters mainly within the Lanthanide region. The excellent energy resolution would also allow to search for excited states in α-decays. To achieve this goal a gridded ionisation chamber was constructed using the Frisch-Grid design. A background rate of only 10.9(6) counts per day has been achieved in the energy region of 1 MeV to 9 MeV and improvements are possible. This low background rate and size of the chamber allows precision measurements of long living alpha decays with half-lives in the region of 1 × 1015 years.
Highlights
One of the most important tools used to understand the mechanism of the nucleus has always been α -decays
The α particle is trapped in the potential of the nucleus
There is a small probability of the α particle tunnelling out through the potential barrier
Summary
One of the most important tools used to understand the mechanism of the nucleus has always been α -decays. There is a small probability of the α particle tunnelling out through the potential barrier. There is no limit on how many times the α particle can interact with the potential barrier. This fact allows the decay to occur, even though the probability of tunnelling is small. This mechanism of the decay gives a strong relationship between the Q-value of the decay and its halflife. Nuttall [1] in 1911 They realised that a relationship between the α -decay’s energy and its half-life existed, though they were limited number of α -decaying isotopes discovered at the time. More precise measurements of the half-lives of long lives α -decays would help towards the determination of a universal decay law
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