Studies of giant resonances by heavy ion scattering at a few hundred MeV/nucleon

Abstract A technique to study giant resonances by heavy ion scattering in the energy range 100–470A MeV using one quadrant of the CELSIUS storage ring as a spectrometer is presented. A test experiment using 250A MeV 16 O on an 40 Ar target has been performed. The inelastically scattered particles could be separated from the background originating from the beam halo using a focal plane telescope in coincidence with neutron detectors around the target. The resolution of the excitation energy spectrum was 3.5 ± 0.5 MeV, mainly determined by the beam size at the target.