Speaker
Description
The use of radioactive beams in inverse kinematics has a strong impact on nuclear physics research and nuclear fission is no exception. Nuclear fission is a quite complex process with a large number of observables, such as fission fragment charge and mass distributions, multiplicities and energies of evaporated neutrons and gamma-rays, released total kinetic energy, fission cross sections and more. It is an experimental challenge to measure as many of those observables as possible in coincidence to obtain a clear picture of the evolution of a fissioning nucleus from the ground state to the eventual formation of the fission fragments.
Inverse kinematics turned out to be a game-changer, as it dramatically increased the number of fissioning isotopes, which could be accessed to study low-energy fission at small angular momenta. Such fission reactions are strongly influenced by shell effects and pairing and offer a unique perspective into the evolution of cold nuclear matter at extreme deformations. Experiments in inverse kinematics contributed to the revival of this field of research in the past twenty years, as did a renewed interest from nuclear astrophysics. In this presentation the ongoing volution of fission experiments in inverse kinematics will be discussed, while physics results from this approach will be highlighted. Finally, an outlook toward future experiments will be given.