Energy calibration of ion-beam accelerators with neutron and gamma nuclear reactions between 2 MeV and 4 MeV

Abstract

The accurate knowledge of the beam energy is of first importance in most applications using ion beams delivered by electrostatic accelerators. Regular beam energy calibration is thus required. The standard procedure is to use neutron thresholds and well known gamma-ray resonances. However, only a few calibration points are available between 2 MeV and 4 MeV despite the need of such beam energies, for instance, for nuclear reaction analyses.In this work, the suitability of 27Al(p,γ)28Si and 45Sc(p,n)45Ti resonances has been studied in this specific energy range by comparison with well-established calibration energies. The methodology used for the experiments and data treatment is fully detailed.The usefulness of these resonances is shown through several calibration campaigns that led to a complete energy calibration of two accelerator based facilities from 500 keV up to 4 MeV.