A beam time saving technique for measuring excitation functions in heavy ion reactions

Excitation functions of evaporation residues following compound nucleus formation in heavy ion reactions have been measured with a single 6 h irradiation of a thick target. The separation of the reaction products as a function of their initial excitation energy is achieved by selecting them according to their recoil energy in a stack of thin catcher foils. The evaporation residues are identified by off-line X-ray and γ-ray measurements of their radioactive decay. The combined radiation and X-ray - γ-ray technique can be used to study reactions which could hardly be investigated by standard on-line measurements. (Auth.)