Inelastic neutron scattering with accelerator-produced neutrons offers many advantages for studying low-energy nuclear structure. With monoenergetic neutrons, nuclear levels can be examined near the threshold for their excitation without the attendant complications of feeding from higher-lying states. Although the recoil velocities of the excited nuclei are small, the Doppler-shift attenuation method (DSAM) has been developed to measure nuclear level lifetimes. With these experimental techniques, we have been able to study the structure of a large number of nearly spherical nuclei and to identify collective structural features, such as multiphonon excitations of the quadrupole, octupole, and heterogeneous types.

ANL Physics Division Seminar Schedule