The O+ 1 -> O+ g monopole transition in 112Cd
Internal conversion is a nuclear electromagnetic deexcitation process by which an electron is emitted from an atomic elec¬tron shell. This process competes with the emission of gam¬ma-rays from the nucleus- Recently a mini-orange electron spectrometer, for the recording of internal electron spectra, was designed and built at the University of Zululand. The spectrometer has proven to be a very effective apparatus for the detection of internal conversion electrons. The work presented in this dissertation essentially consists of three main parts. Firstly a theoretical study of electro-magnetic deexcitation processes, with special emphasis on in-ternal conversion, is presented. In this dissertation the main field of interest is internal conversion monopole transi¬tions, for which gamma-radiation is strictly prohibited. The monopole matrix element is defined and Its relevance to nu¬clear structure is emphasized. Secondly, a brief description of the mini-orange spectrometer used in this work is presen¬ted, together with a discussion on the transmission charac¬teristics of the apparatus. The method used to determine the transmission curve for a specific configuration, is described in detail, and some experimental results of transmission cur¬ves are given. Thirdly, the details of the experimental arrangement and conditions for the recording of the *AiiCd internal conversion spectrum are given, as well as the ob¬tained results. The 0+1 0+g monopole transition in u*Cd was detected. The recorded spectrum, was analyzed and the results were used to calculate the nuclear structure parame¬ters p(E0) and X(E0/E2). The obtained results compare well with similar results presented in the literature. The results were also compared to some theoretical predictions of these parameters, and it has become evident that none of these nuclear model predictions are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental values. This stresses the significance of experiments of this kind in gaining more information on the structure of the nucleus.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations