STATUS-REPORT OF THE SARA IGISOL USED IN THE STUDY OF THE U-238(ALPHA 40 MEV, F) REACTION

A new ion guide isotope separator on-line (IGISOL), operating with the SARA facility, has been constructed. Using the U-238(alpha-40 MeV, f ) reaction to produce very neutron-rich radioisotopes, all mass chains from A = 96 to 122 have been scanned by conventional methods of nuclear spectroscopy. Provided the stopping volume is separated from the primary beam, it has been proved that the yield is nearly proportional to the He pressure. In addition to the usual advantages (quasi-independence from physical and chemical properties of elements), this makes IGISOL a powerful technique for high energy recoil products. During the experiments the boundary of known neutron-rich nuclei was reached such as 117Rh (440 ms) and several unknown activities were detected in the range A = 113-118.