Abstract
Studying (α,p) reactions of astrophysical interest with radioactive beams presents serious challenges
because of the difficult nature of the target. We have developed a new approach for the
measurement of (α,p) reactions using heavy ion beams in inverse kinematics and have measured
the 4He(19F,1H)22Ne reaction as a demonstration. 19F beams were used at the Holifield Radioactive
Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) tandem accelerator in 91°µÍø (ORNL)
to bombard a large scattering chamber filled with 4He gas. Recoiling protons from the reactions
were detected by the large area annular silicon strip detector array (SIDAR). The 19F(α,p)
and 19F(α,p’) excitation functions were measured over the energy range of E c.m. ∼1-2.1 MeV,
demonstrating the viability of the technique