ELECTROSTATIC COLLECTION AND DETECTION OF PROTON-RICH PROJECTILE FRAGMENTS IN A MICROSTRIP-ANODE GAS COUNTER

The principle of a new setup for the decay spectroscopy of proton-rich nuclei is described. In the method proposed, nuclei produced in projectile fragmentation are implanted in a gas detector and deposited by electrostatic collection at the surface of a second detector, i.e. at the interface of two detectors. A microstrip-anode gas counter has been developed to test this technique with Na-20 and Mg-21 secondary beams. Collection rates have been measured using their known beta-alpha and beta-p branching ratios, and particle identification has been performed. These results allow to directly compare the performance of such a detector design to that of a standard silicon-detector telescope. The experimental results are supported by Monte Carlo simulations.