A high-resolution time-of-flight spectrometer with tracking capabilities for fission fragments and beams of exotic nuclei

Bremsstrahlung photons produced at the superconducting electron accelerator ELBE of the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf will be used for the production of neutron-rich nuclei by photon-induced fission. The properties of such exotic nuclei will be studied by decay spectroscopy. The mass and the charge identification will be based on a new double time-of-flight method for both fission fragments. Currently, an experimental time-of-flight spectrometer consisting of two large-size micro-channel plate detectors with two-dimensional position-sensitive delay-line anodes has achieved a time resolution of 240 ps (FWHM) and a position resolution of 1.8±0.3mm (FWHM) with a foil thickness of 163μg/cm2. The spectrometer will also be applied to track beams of exotic nuclei for experiments at the heavy-ion synchrotron (SIS) at GSI, Darmstadt.