Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter.

The surface of neutron-rich heavy nuclei, with a neutron skin created by excess neutrons, provides an important terrestrial model system to study dilute neutron-rich matter. By using quasi-free α cluster-knockout reactions, we obtained direct experimental evidence for the formation of α clusters at the surface of neutron-rich tin isotopes. The observed monotonous decrease of the reaction cross sections with increasing mass number, in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction, implies a tight interplay between α-cluster formation and the neutron skin. This result, in turn, calls for a revision of the correlation between the neutron-skin thickness and the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which is essential for understanding neutron stars. Our result also provides a natural explanation for the origin of α particles in α decay.

Development of an 18 GHz superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source at RCNP.

An 18 GHz superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source has recently been developed and installed in order to extend the variety and the intensity of ions at the RCNP coupled cyclotron facility. Production of several ions such as O, N, Ar, Kr, etc., is now under development and some of them have already been used for user experiments. For example, highly charged heavy ion beams like (86)Kr(21+,23+) and intense (16)O(5+,6+) and (15)N(6+) ion beams have been provided for experiments. The metal ion from volatile compounds method for boron ions has been developed as well.

Production of highly charged heavy ions by 18 GHz superconducting electron cyclotron resonance at Research Center for Nuclear Physics.

An 18 GHz superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source has been installed as a subject of the azimuthally varying field cyclotron upgrade project (K. Hatanaka et al., in Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Cyclotrons and Their Applications, Tokyo, Japan, 18-22 October 2004, pp. 115-117), in order to increase beam currents and to extend the variety of ions. The production development of several ions has been performed since 2006 and some of them have already been used for user experiments [T. Yorita et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 02A311 (2008)]. Further optimizations for each component such as the material of plasma electrode, material, and shape of bias probe and mirror field have been continued and more intense ion beams have been obtained for O, N, and Ar. For the purpose of obtaining highly charged Xe with several microamperes, the optimization of position and shape of plasma electrode and bias disk has also been done and highly charged Xe(32+) beam has been obtained successfully.