Measuring total reaction cross sections at energies near the Coulomb barrier by the active target method

An experimental technique is described that is able to measure reaction cross-sections at energies around the Coulomb barrier by using low intensity beams and a Si detector as an active target. Set-up optimization was carefully investigated in terms of collimation, detector efficiency and pile-up rejection. The method has been tested by measuring the total reaction cross-section sigma(R)(E) for the (7)Li + (28)Si system in the energy range of E(lab) = 12-16 MeV. The deduced excitation function sigma(R)(E) agrees with the data obtained in a previous experiment. The presented technique can also be applied in order to determine total reaction cross-sections for low intensity radioactive beams at energies around the Coulomb barrier. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.