Physics Commons^™

Rotational Symmetries Of Nuclear States: Spin Determinations In Advanced Laboratory, Wilfred J. Braithwaite

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

An advanced laboratory experiment is described which shows the connection between the rotational symmetries of nuclear states and the assignments of spins to discrete nuclear states. Standard angular correlation methods were used to study the two sequential gamma ray transitions in each ⁶⁰Ni nucleus, populated by unobserved beta decays from a weak radioactive ⁶⁰Co source. The chosen electronics and detectors were inexpensive and easy to operate. This experiment was extended to introduce students to real-world data acquisition, using finite-geometry detectors, which resulted in enormously larger coincident data rates.