Recent highlights and prospects on (n,γ) measurements at the CERN n_TOF facility

J. Lerendegui-Marco; V. Alcayne; V. Babiano-Suarez; M. Bacak; J. Balibrea-Correa; A. Casanovas; C. Domingo-Pardo; G. de la Fuente; B. Gameiro; F. García-Infantes; I. Ladarescu; E. Musacchio-Gonzalez; J. A. Pavón-Rodríguez; A. Tarifeño-Saldivia; O. Aberle; S. Altieri; S. Amaducci; J. Andrzejewski; C. Beltrami; S. Bennett; A. P. Bernardes; E. Berthoumieux; R. Beyer; M. Boromiza; D. Bosnar; M. Caamaño; F. Calviño; M. Calviani; D. Cano-Ott; D. M. Castelluccio; F. Cerutti; G. Cescutti; S. Chasapoglou; E. Chiaveri; P. Colombetti; N. Colonna; P. Console Camprini; G. Cortés; M. A. Cortés-Giraldo; L. Cosentino; S. Cristallo; S. Dellmann; M. Di Castro; S. Di Maria; M. Diakaki; M. Dietz; R. Dressler; E. Dupont; I. Durán; Z. Eleme; S. Fargier; B. Fernández; B. Fernández-Domínguez; P. Finocchiaro; S. Fiore; V. Furman; A. Gawlik-Ramięga; G. Gervino; S. Gilardoni; E. González-Romero; C. Guerrero; F. Gunsing; C. Gustavino; J. Heyse; W. Hillman; D. G. Jenkins; E. Jericha; A. Junghans; Y. Kadi; K. Kaperoni; G. Kaur; A. Kimura; I. Knapová; M. Kokkoris; Y. Kopatch; M. Krtička; N. Kyritsis; C. Lederer-Woods; G. Lerner; A. Manna; T. Martínez; A. Masi; C. Massimi; P. Mastinu; M. Mastromarco; E. A. Maugeri; A. Mazzone; E. Mendoza; A. Mengoni; V. Michalopoulou; P. M. Milazzo; R. Mucciola; F. Murtas; A. Musumarra; A. Negret; A. Pérez de Rada; P. Pérez-Maroto; N. Patronis; M. G. Pellegriti; J. Perkowski; C. Petrone; E. Pirovano; J. Plaza del Olmo; S. Pomp; I. Porras; J. Praena; J. M. Quesada; R. Reifarth; D. Rochman; Y. Romanets; C. Rubbia; A. Sánchez-Caballero; M. Sabaté-Gilarte; P. Schillebeeckx; D. Schumann; A. Sekhar; A. G. Smith; N. V. Sosnin; M. E. Stamati; A. Sturniolo; G. Tagliente; D. Tarrío; P. Torres-Sánchez; E. Vagena; S. Valenta; V. Variale; P. Vaz; G. Vecchio; D. Vescovi; V. Vlachoudis; R. Vlastou; A. Wallner; P. J. Woods; T. Wright; R. Zarrella; P. Žugec

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202532903003

Proceedings

Open Access

EPJ Web of Conferences 329, 03003 (2025)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202532903003

Recent highlights and prospects on (n,γ) measurements at the CERN n_TOF facility

J. Lerendegui-Marco¹, V. Alcayne², V. Babiano-Suarez¹, M. Bacak³, J. Balibrea-Correa¹, A. Casanovas⁴, C. Domingo-Pardo¹, G. de la Fuente¹, B. Gameiro¹, F. García-Infantes⁵^,3, I. Ladarescu¹, E. Musacchio-Gonzalez⁶, J. A. Pavón-Rodríguez⁷^,3, A. Tarifeño-Saldivia⁴, O. Aberle³, S. Altieri⁸^,9, S. Amaducci¹⁰, J. Andrzejewski¹¹, C. Beltrami⁸, S. Bennett¹², A. P. Bernardes³, E. Berthoumieux¹³, R. Beyer¹⁴, M. Boromiza¹⁵, D. Bosnar¹⁶, M. Caamaño¹⁷, F. Calviño⁴, M. Calviani³, D. Cano-Ott², D. M. Castelluccio¹⁸^,19, F. Cerutti³, G. Cescutti²⁰^,21, S. Chasapoglou²², E. Chiaveri³^,12, P. Colombetti²³^,24, N. Colonna²⁵, P. Console Camprini¹⁹^,18, G. Cortés⁴, M. A. Cortés-Giraldo⁷, L. Cosentino¹⁰, S. Cristallo²⁶^,27, S. Dellmann²⁸, M. Di Castro³, S. Di Maria²⁹, M. Diakaki²², M. Dietz³⁰, R. Dressler³¹, E. Dupont¹³, I. Durán¹⁷, Z. Eleme³², S. Fargier³, B. Fernández⁷, B. Fernández-Domínguez¹⁷, P. Finocchiaro¹⁰, S. Fiore¹⁸^,33, V. Furman³⁴, A. Gawlik-Ramięga¹¹, G. Gervino²³^,24, S. Gilardoni³, E. González-Romero², C. Guerrero⁷, F. Gunsing¹³, C. Gustavino³³, J. Heyse³⁵, W. Hillman¹², D. G. Jenkins³⁶, E. Jericha³⁷, A. Junghans¹⁴, Y. Kadi³, K. Kaperoni²², G. Kaur¹³, A. Kimura³⁸, I. Knapová³⁹, M. Kokkoris²², Y. Kopatch³⁴, M. Krtička³⁹, N. Kyritsis²², C. Lederer-Woods⁴⁰, G. Lerner³, A. Manna¹⁹^,41, T. Martínez², A. Masi³, C. Massimi¹⁹^,41, P. Mastinu⁶, M. Mastromarco²⁵^,42, E. A. Maugeri³¹, A. Mazzone²⁵^,43, E. Mendoza², A. Mengoni¹⁸^,19, V. Michalopoulou²², P. M. Milazzo²⁰, R. Mucciola²⁶^,44, F. Murtas⁴⁵, A. Musumarra⁴⁶^,47, A. Negret¹⁵, A. Pérez de Rada², P. Pérez-Maroto⁷, N. Patronis³²^,3, M. G. Pellegriti⁴⁶, J. Perkowski¹¹, C. Petrone¹⁵, E. Pirovano³⁰, J. Plaza del Olmo², S. Pomp⁴⁸, I. Porras⁵, J. Praena⁵, J. M. Quesada⁷, R. Reifarth²⁸, D. Rochman³¹, Y. Romanets²⁹, C. Rubbia³, A. Sánchez-Caballero², M. Sabaté-Gilarte³, P. Schillebeeckx³⁵, D. Schumann³¹, A. Sekhar¹², A. G. Smith¹², N. V. Sosnin⁴⁰, M. E. Stamati³²^,3, A. Sturniolo²³, G. Tagliente²⁵, D. Tarrío⁴⁸, P. Torres-Sánchez⁵, E. Vagena³², S. Valenta³⁹, V. Variale²⁵, P. Vaz²⁹, G. Vecchio¹⁰, D. Vescovi²⁸, V. Vlachoudis³, R. Vlastou²², A. Wallner¹⁴, P. J. Woods⁴⁰, T. Wright¹², R. Zarrella¹⁹^,41, P. Žugec¹⁶ and n_TOF Collaboration

¹ Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC - Universidad de Valencia, Spain
² Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Spain
³ European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland
⁴ Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
⁵ University of Granada, Spain
⁶ INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy
⁷ Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
⁸ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pavia, Italy
⁹ Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Italy
¹⁰ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
¹¹ University of Lodz, Poland
¹² University of Manchester, United Kingdom
¹³ CEA Irfu, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
¹⁴ Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany
¹⁵ Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Romania
¹⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
¹⁷ University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
¹⁸ Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie (ENEA), Italy
¹⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Italy
²⁰ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Italy
²¹ Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Italy
²² National Technical University of Athens, Greece
²³ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, Italy
²⁴ Department of Physics, University of Torino, Italy
²⁵ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Italy
²⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, Italy
²⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Italy
²⁸ Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
²⁹ Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
³⁰ Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
³¹ Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland
³² University of Ioannina, Greece
³³ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma1, Roma, Italy
³⁴ Affiliated with an institute covered by a cooperation agreement with CERN
³⁵ European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Geel, Belgium
³⁶ University of York, United Kingdom
³⁷ TU Wien, Atominstitut, Stadionallee 2, 1020 Wien, Austria
³⁸ Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-Mura, Japan
³⁹ Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
⁴⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
⁴¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Italy
⁴² Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy
⁴³ Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
⁴⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università di Perugia, Italy
⁴⁵ INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Italy
⁴⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania, Italy
⁴⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Italy
⁴⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden

Published online: 25 June 2025

Abstract

Neutron capture cross-section measurements are fundamental in the study of the slow neutron capture (s-) process of nucleosynthesis and for the development of innovative nuclear technologies. One of the best suited methods to measure radiative neutron capture (n,γ) cross sections over the full stellar range of interest for all the applications is the time-of-flight (TOF) technique. Overcoming the current experimental limitations for TOF measurements, in particular on low mass unstable samples, requires the combination of facilities with high instantaneous flux, such as the CERN n_TOF facility, with detection systems with an enhanced detection sensitivity and high counting rate capabilities. This contribution presents a summary about the recent highlights in the field of (n,γ) measurements at n_TOF. The recent upgrades in the facility and in new detector concepts for (n,γ) measurements are described. Last, an overview is given on the existing limitations and prospects for TOF measurements involving unstable targets and the outlook for activation measurements at the brand new high-flux n_TOF-NEAR station.

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2025

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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