The use of position-sensitive semiconductor detectors in the study of heavy element nuclear reactions

Abstract

The application of position-sensitive semiconductor detectors to the study of heavy element nuclear reactions at intermediate energies is described. Experimental procedures and results are presented for the use of these devices in the following types of measurements: (1) binary fission fragment angular correlations; (2) fission fragment angular distributions; (3) kinetic energy release in fission, and (4) spallation recoil product angular distributions. The position-sensitive detectors are found to provide much improved experimental efficiency over normal semiconductor detectors in experiments where the angular dependence of the products is quite strong; e.g. fission fragment angular correlations and spallation recoil angular distributions. For experiments in which the product counting rates vary slowly with angle, such as fission fragment angular distributions, the position detector is much less useful. Although the energy resolution of these devices is poorer than normal detectors, they are advantageous in experiments designed to study fission energetics as a function of reaction kinematics.