Study of radiative capture reactions with radioactive ion beams

A technique for separating and identifying reaction products from radiative capture reactions induced by radioactive ion beams has been developed. The ¹⁸F(p,γ) ¹⁹Ne and ¹⁸O(p,γ) ¹⁹F reactions have been measured in inverse kinematics by identifying the ¹⁹F and ¹⁹Ne reaction products with respect to mass and charge at forward angles in the Fragment Mass Analyzer. A total detection efficiency of 30% and a suppression factor for the incident beam relative to the (p,γ) reaction products of better than 10 ¹²:1 was achieved. Details of the detection technique, the beam monitoring procedure as well as experience in the use of polypropylene targets in experiments with radioactive beams are discussed.