Improvements in the in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy provided by an ancillary detector coupled to a Ge γ-spectrometer: the DIAMANT-EUROGAM II example

For the first time the 4π γ-ray spectrometer EUROGAM II has been coupled to a 4π light charged particle detector array, DIAMANT, during a test experiment on the reaction 32S + 58Ni at 120 MeV beam energy. A very large improvement in the peak-to-background ratio of the γ-spectra has been found when EUROGAM II is triggered by DIAMANT to select an exit channel. A simple algebra has been developed which provides theoretical estimates in good agreement with these experimental results. It is demonstrated that, depending on both the γ-spectrometer and ancillary detector performances, much better peak-to-background can be obtained by such a coupling. For the same peak-to-background ratio, the use of an ancillary detector allows for a lower γ-ray coincidence level and therefore improves the statistics. Ways to select the most appropriate ancillary detector are given. The ability of the ancillary detector to provide a total Doppler shift correction is crucial for the improvement of the peak-to-background ratio.