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 at the FZ 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 identifications will be based on a double time-of-flight (TOF) method for both fission fragments. Currently, an experimental TOF spectrometer consisting of two micro-channel plate (MCP) detectors with two-dimensional position-sensitive delay-line anodes has achieved a position resolution of 1.8 (0.3) mm (FWHM) and a time resolution of 240 ps (FWHM) with a foil thickness of 163 mug/cm^2. The spectrometer will also be applied to track beams of exotic nuclei for experiments at the heavy ion synchrotron at GSI, Darmstadt.