Experimental demonstration of ultrahigh sensitivity Talbot-Lau interferometer for low dose mammography.

Objective. Even though the techniques used for breast cancer identification have advanced over the years, current mammography based on x-rays absorption, the 'gold standard' screening test at present, still has some shortcomings as concerns sensitivity and specificity to early-stage cancers, due to poor differentiation between tumor and normal tissues, especially in the case of the dense breasts. We investigate a possible additional technique for breast cancer detection with higher sensitivity and low dose, x-ray phase-contrast or refraction-based imaging with ultrahigh angular sensitivity grating interferometers, having several meters length.Approach.Towards this goal, we built and tested on a mammography phantom, a table-top laboratory setup based on a 5.7 m long Talbot-Lau interferometer with angular sensitivity better than 1µrad. We used a high-power x-ray tungsten anode tube with a 400µm focal spot, operated at 40 kVp and 15 mA with a 2 mm aluminum filter.Main results.The results reported in our paper confirm the ultrahigh sensitivity and dose economy possible with our setup. The visibility of objects simulating cancerous formations is strongly increased in the refraction images over the attenuation ones, even at a low dose of 0.32 mGy. Notably, the smallest fiber of 400µm diameter and calcifications specs of 160µm in diameter are detected, even though the spatial resolution at the object of our magnification M ∼ 2 setup with a 400µm source spot is only ∼250µm.Significance.Our experiments on a mammography phantom illustrate the capabilities of the proposed technique and can open the way toward low-dose interferometric mammography.

The extreme light infrastructure-nuclear physics (ELI-NP) facility: new horizons in physics with 10 PW ultra-intense lasers and 20 MeV brilliant gamma beams.

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has selected in 2006 a proposal based on ultra-intense laser fields with intensities reaching up to 1022-1023 W cm-2 called 'ELI' for Extreme Light Infrastructure. The construction of a large-scale laser-centred, distributed pan-European research infrastructure, involving beyond the state-of-the-art ultra-short and ultra-intense laser technologies, received the approval for funding in 2011-2012. The three pillars of the ELI facility are being built in Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. The Romanian pillar is ELI-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP). The new facility is intended to serve a broad national, European and International science community. Its mission covers scientific research at the frontier of knowledge involving two domains. The first one is laser-driven experiments related to nuclear physics, strong-field quantum electrodynamics and associated vacuum effects. The second is based on a Compton backscattering high-brilliance and intense low-energy gamma beam (<20 MeV), a marriage of laser and accelerator technology which will allow us to investigate nuclear structure and reactions as well as nuclear astrophysics with unprecedented resolution and accuracy. In addition to fundamental themes, a large number of applications with significant societal impact are being developed. The ELI-NP research centre will be located in Magurele near Bucharest, Romania. The project is implemented by 'Horia Hulubei' National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH). The project started in January 2013 and the new facility will be fully operational by the end of 2019. After a short introduction to multi-PW lasers and multi-MeV brilliant gamma beam scientific and technical description of the future ELI-NP facility as well as the present status of its implementation of ELI-NP, will be presented. The science and examples of societal applications at reach with these electromagnetic probes with much improved performances provided at this new facility will be discussed with a special focus on day-one experiments and associated novel instrumentation.

First Measurement of the g Factor in the Chiral Band: The Case of the

The g factor of the 56 ns half-life isomeric state in ^{128}Cs has been measured using the time-differential perturbed angular distribution method. This state is the bandhead of the positive-parity chiral rotational band, which emerges when an unpaired proton, an unpaired neutron hole, and an even-even core are coupled such that their angular momentum vectors are aplanar (chiral configuration). g-factor measurements can give important information on the relative orientation of the three angular momentum vectors. The measured g factor g=+0.59(1) shows that there is an important contribution of the core rotation in the total angular momentum of the isomeric state. Moreover, a quantitative theoretical analysis supports the conclusion that the three angular momentum vectors lie almost in one plane, which suggests that the chiral configuration in ^{128}Cs demonstrated in previous works by characteristic patterns of electromagnetic transitions appears only above some value of the total nuclear spin.

Multifaceted Quadruplet of Low-Lying Spin-Zero States in

A search for shape isomers in the ^{66}Ni nucleus was performed, following old suggestions of various mean-field models and recent ones, based on state-of-the-art Monte Carlo shell model (MCSM), all considering ^{66}Ni as the lightest nuclear system with shape isomerism. By employing the two-neutron transfer reaction induced by an ^{18}O beam on a ^{64}Ni target, at the sub-Coulomb barrier energy of 39 MeV, all three lowest-excited 0^{+} states in ^{66}Ni were populated and their γ decay was observed by γ-coincidence technique. The 0^{+} states lifetimes were assessed with the plunger method, yielding for the 0_{2}^{+}, 0_{3}^{+}, and 0_{4}^{+} decay to the 2_{1}^{+} state the B(E2) values of 4.3, 0.1, and 0.2 Weisskopf units (W.u.), respectively. MCSM calculations correctly predict the existence of all three excited 0^{+} states, pointing to the oblate, spherical, and prolate nature of the consecutive excitations. In addition, they account for the hindrance of the E2 decay from the prolate 0_{4}^{+} to the spherical 2_{1}^{+} state, although overestimating its value. This result makes ^{66}Ni a unique nuclear system, apart from ^{236,238}U, in which a retarded γ transition from a 0^{+} deformed state to a spherical configuration is observed, resembling a shape-isomerlike behavior.

Neutron pair transfer in (60)Ni+(116)Sn far below the Coulomb barrier.

An excitation function of one- and two-neutron transfer channels for the ^{60}Ni+^{116}Sn system has been measured with the magnetic spectrometer PRISMA in a wide energy range, from the Coulomb barrier to far below it. The experimental transfer probabilities are well reproduced, for the first time with heavy ions, in absolute values and in slope by microscopic calculations which incorporate nucleon-nucleon pairing correlations.

Enhanced quadrupole collectivity at N = 40: the case of neutron-rich Fe isotopes.

The transition rates for the 2(1)+ states in (62,64,66)Fe were studied using the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique applied to projectile Coulomb excitation reactions. The deduced E2 strengths illustrate the enhanced collectivity of the neutron-rich Fe isotopes up to N = 40. The results are interpreted using the generalized concept of valence proton symmetry which describes the evolution of nuclear structure around N = 40 as governed by the number of valence protons with respect to Z ≈ 30. The trend of collectivity suggested by the experimental data is described by state-of-the-art shell-model calculations with a new effective interaction developed for the fpgd valence space.

Coherent contributions to isospin mixing in the mirror pair 67As and 67Se.

Isospin symmetry breaking has been investigated in mass A=67 mirror nuclei through the experimental determination of the E1 strengths of analog electromagnetic transitions. Lifetimes of excited states have been measured in (67)Se and (67)As with the centroid shift method. Through the comparison of the B(E1) strengths of the mirror 9/2(+)-->7/2(-) transitions, the isovector and the isoscalar components of the electromagnetic transition amplitude were extracted. The presence of a large isoscalar component provides evidence for coherent contributions to isospin mixing, probably involving the isovector giant monopole resonance.

Lifetime measurements of the neutron-rich N = 30 isotones 50Ca and 51Sc: orbital dependence of effective charges in the fp shell.

The lifetimes of the first excited states of the N = 30 isotones (50)Ca and (51)Sc have been determined using the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift method in combination with the CLARA-PRISMA spectrometers. This is the first time such a method is applied to measure lifetimes of neutron-rich nuclei populated via a multinucleon transfer reaction. This extends the lifetime knowledge beyond the f_{7/2} shell closure and allows us to derive the effective proton and neutron charges in the fp shell near the doubly magic nucleus (48)Ca, using large-scale, shell-model calculations. These results indicate an orbital dependence of the core polarization along the fp shell.

Shape coexistence in light se isotopes: evidence for oblate shapes.

Lifetimes of states in the ground-state bands of (70)Se and (72)Se were measured using the recoil-distance Doppler shift method. The results deviate significantly from earlier measurements, requiring a revision of the conclusions drawn from a recent Coulomb excitation experiment concerning the shape of (70)Se. The new results lead to a coherent picture of shape coexistence in the neutron-deficient selenium and krypton isotopes. The coexistence and evolution of oblate and prolate shapes in this mass region is for the first time consistently described by new Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov-based configuration-mixing calculations which were performed using the Gogny D1S interaction.

Observation of 54Ni: cross-conjugate symmetry in f7/2 mirror energy differences.

Gamma decays from excited states up to Jpi=6+ in the N=Z-2 nucleus 54Ni have been identified for the first time. Level energies are compared with those of the isobars 54Co and 54Fe and of the cross-conjugate nuclei of mass A=42. The good but puzzling f7/ cross-conjugate symmetry in mirror and triplet energy differences is analyzed. Shell model calculations reproduce the new data but the necessary nuclear charge-dependent phenomenology is not fully explained by modern nucleon-nucleon potentials.

Unusual isospin-breaking and isospin-mixing effects in the A=35 mirror nuclei.

Excited states have been studied in 35Ar following the 16O(24Mg,1alpha1n)35Ar fusion-evaporation reaction at 60 MeV using the Ge-detector array GASP. A comparison with the mirror nucleus 35Cl shows two remarkable features: (i) A surprisingly large energy difference for the 13/2(-) states, in which the hitherto overlooked electromagnetic spin-orbit term is shown to play a major role, and (ii) a very different decay pattern for the 7/2(-) states, which provides direct evidence of isospin mixing.

Coulomb energy differences in t = 1 mirror rotational bands in (50)Fe and (50)Cr.

Gamma rays from the N = Z-2 nucleus (50)Fe have been observed, establishing the rotational ground state band up to the state J(pi) = 11+ at 6.994 MeV excitation energy. The experimental Coulomb energy differences, obtained by comparison with the isobaric analog states in its mirror (50)Cr, confirm the qualitative interpretation of the backbending patterns in terms of successive alignments of proton and neutron pairs. A quantitative agreement with experiment has been achieved by exact shell model calculations, incorporating the differences in radii along the yrast bands, and properly renormalizing the Coulomb matrix elements in the pf model space.

Magnetic Rotation in the A = 80 Region: M1 Bands in Heavy Rb Isotopes.

We have studied the isotopes (82)Rb45, (83)Rb46, and (84)Rb47 to search for magnetic rotation which is predicted in the tilted-axis cranking model for a certain mass region around A = 80. Excited states in these nuclei were populated via the reaction (11)B + (76)Ge with E = 50 MeV at the XTU tandem accelerator of the LNL Legnaro. Based on a γ-coincidence experiment using the spectrometer GASP we have found magnetic dipole bands in each studied nuclide. The regular M1 bands observed in the odd-odd nuclei (82)Rb and (84)Rb include B(M1)/B(E2) ratios decreasing smoothly with increasing spin in a range of 13(-) ≤ J(π) ≤ 16(-). These bands are interpreted in the tilted-axis cranking model on the basis of four-quasiparticle configurations of the type [Formula: see text]. This is the first evidence of magnetic rotation in the A ≈ 80 region. In contrast, the M1 sequences in the odd-even nucleus (83)Rb are not regular, and the B(M1)/B(E2) ratios show a pronounced staggering.