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A project for an upgrade of the Superconducting Cyclotron is underway at INFN-LNS. One of the goals of this project is the production of RIBs (Radioactive Ion Beams) of high intensity. To reach this purpose, a dedicated facility consisting of a new fragment separator FRAISE (FRAgment In-flight SEparator) is ongoing, exploiting primary beams with a power up to ≈ 2-3 kW. The high intensity achievable with FRAISE requires the use of appropriate diagnostics and tagging systems that can operate also in a strong radioactive environment. In this framework, a R&D program has been started to develop the FRAISE facility as well as the diagnostics and the tagging systems.

The study of heavy-ions induced double charge-exchange (HI-DCE) nuclear reactions is a promising way to access data-driven information on neutrino-less double-beta decay nuclear matrix elements. In the following, particular attention is given to the (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) HI-DCE reactions as tools for β+β+ and β−β− decays, respectively. The experiments are performed in Catania at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN-LNS). The MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer is used to momentum analyse the ejectiles of a large network of nuclear reactions. New preliminary experimental data for the 76Se(18O,18F)76As and 76Ge(20Ne,20F)76As single charge exchange (SCE) and for the 76Se(18O,18Ne)76Ge and 76Ge(20Ne,20O)76Se DCE nuclear reactions were also investigated.

In the last decades Silicon Carbide (SiC) received special attentions, in particular as semiconductor material, because is considered as alternative to Silicon for the future high-power, low consumption, radiation-hard microelectronics devices. This ambitious goal is particularly interesting also for the physics of the detectors. In this work are discussed some of the recent results obtained by SiCILIA collaboration, a joint research activity between INFN and IMM institutions to increase the level of technological development in the field of SiC detectors.

In this contribution, we will illustrate the main results of the R&D activities related to the Silicon Carbide detectors associated with NUMEN project.

The objective of the research and development activities, regarding the upgrade of the MAGNEX focal plane detector (FPD) and the development of the γ detector array for the NUMEN project, is the construction of new detectors capable to fulfil the requirements of high event rate, radiation tolerance and data acquisition and transmission bandwidth deriving from the upgrade of the Superconducting Cyclotron at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud. The design of the front-end (FE) and read-out (RO) electronics has been performed in parallel with that of the new tracker. The design of the new segmented anode and the architecture of the front-end and read-out electronics are presented.

Recently a new generation plastic scintillator PPO have been developed. They promise excellent performances in terms of neutron/gamma discrimination. In this work we will present the activity made at INFN-LNS on the plastic scintillator EJ299 in comparison with the most traditional liquid scintillator EJ301 used in several nuclear physics experiments.

Silicon carbide is a very promising material for next generation nuclear physics experiments at high beam luminosity. Such activities require devices able to sustain high fluxes of particles (up to 1014 ions/cm2) in order to determine the cross sections of very rare nuclear phenomena. One of these activities is the NUMEN project, which aims, through the double charge exchange reactions, to impact in the determination of nuclear matrix elements entering in the expression of half-life of the neutrino-less double beta decay. Due to the very low cross sections, these features can just be explored at fluences which exceed by far those tolerated in state of the art solid state detectors, typically used in this kind of experiments. The SiC technology offers today an ideal response to such challenges, giving the opportunity to cope the excellent properties of silicon detectors with the radiation hardness, thermal stability and visible blindness of SiC material.

The basic condition for Efimov states is the existence of resonant two-body forces. A system of three particles with resonant two-body interactions may form bound states, the so called Efimov trimers, even when any two of the particles are unable to bind. Inspired by this idea we have analysed a set of data from the 6Li+6Li→3α reaction measured in a kinematically complete experiment at 3.1 MeV of beam energy, corresponding to 29.6 MeV of excitation energy in 12C, with the characteristic that the 3α channel is fed by three 8Be states in the same event. A strong enhancement in the α–α coincidence yield is experienced for these events. Evidence of three 8Be levels within the same 3α event suggests that one particle is exchanged between the other two. According to quantum mechanics, this is a condition for Efimov states to occur and for which no observation exists yet in nuclei. The hyperspherical formalism for the low-energy three-body problem has been applied to point out the 3α particle correlation.

This work aim to prepare a program of studies on nuclear physics and astrophysics, which will be conducted at the new ELI-NP Laser facility, which actually is under construction in Bucharest, Romania. For the arguments treated, such activity has required also a multidisciplinary approach and knowledge in the fields of nuclear physics, astrophysics, laser and plasma physics join with also some competences on solid state physics related to the radiation detection. A part of this work has concerned to the experimental test, which have been performed in several laboratories and in order to study and increase the level of knowledge on the different parts of the project. In particular have been performed studies on the laser matter interaction at the ILIL laboratory of Pisa Italy and at the LENS laboratory in Catania, where (by using different experimental set-ups) has been investigated some key points concerning the production of the plasma stream. Test has been performed on several target configurations in terms of: composition, structure and size. All the work has been devoted to optimize the conditions of target in order to have the best performance on the production yields and on energies distribution of the inner plasma ions. A parallel activity has been performed in order to study the two main detectors, which will constitute the full detections system, which will be installed at the ELI-NP facility.

ELI-Beamlines is one of the pillars of the pan-European project ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure). It will be an ultra high-intensity, high repetition-rate, femtosecond laser facility whose main goal is generation and applications of high-brightness X-ray sources and accelerated charged particles in different fields. Particular care will be devoted to the potential applicability of laser-driven ion beams for medical treatments of tumors. Indeed, such kind of beams show very interesting peculiarities and, moreover, laser-driven based accelerators can really represent a competitive alternative to conventional machines since they are expected to be more compact in size and less expensive. The ELIMED project was launched thanks to a collaboration established between FZU-ASCR (ELI-Beamlines) and INFN-LNS researchers. Several European institutes have already shown a great interest in the project aiming to explore the possibility to use laser-driven ion (mostly proton) beams for several applications with a particular regard for medical ones. To reach the project goal several tasks need to be fulfilled, starting from the optimization of laser-target interaction to dosimetric studies at the irradiation point at the end of a proper designed transport beam-line. Researchers from LNS have already developed and successfully tested a high-dispersive power Thomson Parabola Spectrometer, which is the first prototype of a more performing device to be used within the ELIMED project. Also a Magnetic Selection System able to produce a small pencil beam out of a wide energy distribution of ions produced in laser-target interaction has been realized and some preliminary work for its testing and characterization is in progress. In this contribution the status of the project will be reported together with a short description of the of the features of device recently developed.