Dedicated ΔE–E detector system for searching long-lived heaviest nuclei deposited in scintillators

Abstract

We present a dedicated experimental setup which is currently used to search for long-lived super-heavy elements (SHE) implanted in catcher scintillators which were irradiated by reaction products of 197Au (7.5 AMeV) projectile and 232Th target collisions during our experiment performed at the Cyclotrone Institute, Texas A&M University in 2015. The built-in novel measuring apparatus consists of E–E detector pairs which are able to register or spontaneous fission (SF) decays of heavy-reaction products deposited in the catcher scintillators. Their unique feature is that the examined catcher scintillators are at the same time E part of each of E–E detector pair while E part is a silicon detector. Our apparatus is dedicated to search for SHEs which have a lifetime of a year till tens of years. Results of commissioning tests of our setup are presented.