Practicing DSAM in aberrant domain: motivation, method and measurements

Measurement of nuclear level lifetime constitute an indispensable probe into the microscopic structure of the states and is thus of much significance in nuclear structure research. Of the several methods of lifetime measurement, the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method (DSAM) is the one adopted for measuring lifetimes typically in the range of few tens of fs to few ps. One of the crucial components of the related analysis is the simulation of the stopping process, of the residues of interest, in the target and the backing media. This requires calculation of the corresponding stopping powers and the same has been identified as one of the principal uncertainties on the measured lifetime in DSAM. The problem is further compounded in case of a molecular target, acting as the stopping medium, that might be required for certain nuclear structure pursuits. For instance, the ¹⁸O target, extensively used for spectroscopic studies in sdpf nuclei, often comes in the form of metallic oxides such as Ta₂O₅ or V₂O₅ and, depending on the method of fabrication, may assume thickness sufficient to act both as the target and the backing