Measuring the nuclear charge of fission fragments using a large ionization chamber—part of the double-arm time-of-flight spectrometer

Identification of decay products is a relevant task in studying rare collinear decays of low excited heavy nuclei. A technique for measuring the nuclear charge of decay products detected by a wide-aperture ionization chamber—a part of the double-arm time-of-flight spectrometer—is described. Two versions of nuclear charge calibration using data of the reaction 235 U( n th , f ) have been developed to determine the charge of the decay products. Testing with simulation data shows that the use of charge parameterization based on the Bohr-Willer empirical equation in the calibration procedure makes it possible to determine the nuclear charge of the fission fragments over a wide energy range. The charges of light ions from He to C, predicted on the basis of this approach, appear to be overestimated by two charge units.