Alpha-particle capture reactions in inverse kinematics relevant to p-process nucleosynthesis

Abstract

The first feasibility study of an α‐particle capture reaction in inverse kinematics at energies relevant to the p process was performed at the Wien Filter of the LISE spectrometer at GANIL. Hereby, the 4He(78Kr,γ)82Sr reaction was investigated using as target an 4He‐implanted thin Al foil. The analysis of the data has shown that the determination of (α,γ) reaction cross sections at rather low energies around 2 MeV/u in inverse kinematics is indeed feasible regarding the high rejection rate of the primary beam, which in the present work was better than a factor of 109. However, the expected position of the recoils of interest was completely masked by particles of currently unknown origin that could hardly be attributed to scattering of the primary beam. The most probable explanation for the origin of these “pollutants” could be microscopic dust particles of 10 μm diameter and less, that are extremely difficult to avoid in standard experimental conditions. Hence, the use of a gas‐jet target instead of a solid one is compulsory.