Coulomb excitation of radioactive nuclear beams in inverse kinematics

Techniques for the measurement of B (E2:01+ → 21+) values by Coulomb excitation of Radioactive Nuclear Beams in inverse kinematics are described. Using a thin, low Z target, the Coulomb excited beam nuclei will decay in flight downstream of the target. For long lifetimes (nanosecond range) these nuclei decay centimeters downstream of the target and for shorter lifetimes (picoseconds or less) they decay near the target. Corresponding to these two lifetime regimes two methods have been developed to measure γ rays from the Coulomb excited nuclei: the lifetime method in which the lifetime of the excited state is deduced from the decay curve and the integral method in which the B(E2) value is extracted from the measured total Coulomb excitation cross section