Update of Bragg edge analysis software "GUI-RITS"

Oikawa, Kenichi; Sato, Hirotaka*; Watanabe, Kenichi*; Su, Y. H.; Shinohara, Takenao; Kai, Tetsuya; Kiyanagi, Yoshiaki*; Hasemi, Hiroyuki

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 2605, p.012013_1 - 012013_6, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2605/1/012013

Design of MA(III)/Ln(III) separation process of extraction chromatography technology

Akuzawa, Tadashi*; Kim, S.-Y.*; Kubota, Masahiko*; Wu, H.*; Watanabe, So; Sano, Yuichi; Takeuchi, Masayuki; Arai, Tsuyoshi*

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 331(12), p.5851 - 5858, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08658-7

Selective recovery of thorium and uranium from leach solutions of rare earth concentrates in continuous solvent extraction mode with primary amine N1923

Nguyen, T. H.*; Le Ba, T.*; Tran, C. T.*; Nguyen, T. T.*; Doan, T. T. T.*; Do, V. K.; Watanabe, Masayuki; Pham, Q. M.*; Hoang, S. T.*; Nguyen, D. V.*; et al.

Hydrometallurgy, 213, p.105933_1 - 105933_11, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2022.105933

A continuous counter-current extraction for the selective recovery of thorium (Th) and uranium (U) from the Yen Phu (Vietnam) rare earth concentrate leach solutions was systematically studied. The primary amine N1923 was used as an extractant which was prepared in the isoparaffin IP-2028 diluent. Thorium and uranium were selectively recovered in a hydrometallurgical circuit established by continuous mixer-settler extraction, scrubbing, and back-extraction at the laboratory scale. The desired purity of Th and U can be achieved by managing the volume ratio of organic to aqueous phase (O/A ratio) in the corresponding steps. Highly pure Th and U were recovered from the pregnant back-extraction liquor and the raffinate, respectively, which have satisfactory properties for further processing of the subsequent nuclear materials.

Dynamical response of transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters to a pulsed charged-particle beam

Okumura, Takuma*; Azuma, Toshiyuki*; Bennet, D. A.*; Caradonna, P.*; Chiu, I.-H.*; Doriese, W. B.*; Durkin, M. S.*; Fowler, J. W.*; Gard, J. D.*; Hashimoto, Tadashi; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 31(5), p.2101704_1 - 2101704_4, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2021.3067793

A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter is an ideal X-ray detector for experiments at accelerator facilities because of good energy resolution and high efficiency. To study the performance of the TES detector with a high-intensity pulsed charged-particle beam, we measured X-ray spectra with a pulsed muon beam at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) in Japan. We found substantial temporal shifts of the X-ray energy correlated with the arrival time of the pulsed muon beam, which was reasonably explained by pulse pileup due to the incidence of energetic particles from the initial pulsed beam.

Visualizing cation vacancies in Ce:GdAlGaO scintillators by gamma-ray-induced positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

Fujimori, Kosuke*; Kitaura, Mamoru*; Taira, Yoshitaka*; Fujimoto, Masaki*; Zen, H.*; Watanabe, Shinta*; Kamada, Kei*; Okano, Yasuaki*; Kato, Masahiro*; Hosaka, Masahito*; et al.

Applied Physics Express, 13(8), p.085505_1 - 085505_4, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.35848/1882-0786/aba0dd

To clarify the existence of cation vacancies in Ce-doped GdAlGaO (Ce:GAGG) scintillators, we performed gamma-ray-induced positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (GiPALS). GiPAL spectra of GAGG and Ce:GAGG comprised two exponential decay components, which were assigned to positron annihilation at bulk and defect states. By an analogy with Ce:YAlO, the defect-related component was attributed to Al/Ga-O divacancy complexes. This component was weaker for Ce, Mg:GAGG, which correlated with the suppression of shallow electron traps responsible for phosphorescence. Oxygen vacancies were charge compensators for Al/Ga vacancies. The lifetime of the defect-related component was significantly changed by Mg co-doping. This was understood by considering aggregates of Mg ions at Al/Ga sites with oxygen vacancies, which resulted in the formation of vacancy clusters.

First nuclear transmutation of Np and Am by accelerator-driven system at Kyoto University Critical Assembly

Pyeon, C. H.*; Yamanaka, Masao*; Oizumi, Akito; Fukushima, Masahiro; Chiba, Go*; Watanabe, Kenichi*; Endo, Tomohiro*; Van Rooijen, W. G.*; Hashimoto, Kengo*; Sakon, Atsushi*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(8), p.684 - 689, 2019/08

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1618406

This study demonstrates, for the first time, the principle of nuclear transmutation of minor actinide (MA) by the accelerator-driven system (ADS) through the injection of high-energy neutrons into the subcritical core at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly. The main objective of the experiments is to confirm fission reactions of neptunium-237 (Np) and americium-241 (Am), and capture reactions of Np. Subcritical irradiation of Np and Am foils is conducted in a hard spectrum core with the use of the back-to-back fission chamber that obtains simultaneously two signals from specially installed test (Np or Am) and reference (uranium-235) foils. The first nuclear transmutation of Np and Am by ADS soundly implemented by combining the subcritical core and the 100 MeV proton accelerator, and the use of a lead-bismuth target, is conclusively demonstrated through the experimental results of fission and capture reaction events.

Proton shell evolution below Sn; First measurement of low-lying -emitting isomers in Ag

Chen, Z. Q.*; Li, Z. H.*; Hua, H.*; Watanabe, Hiroshi*; Yuan, C. X.*; Zhang, S. Q.*; Lorusso, G.*; Orlandi, R.; 60 of others*

Physical Review Letters, 122(21), p.212502_1 - 212502_6, 2019/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.212502

Physical and electrical characterizations of AlGaN/GaN MOS gate stacks with AlGaN surface oxidation treatment

Yamada, Takahiro*; Watanabe, Kenta*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Shih, H.-A.*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Anda, Yoshiharu*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 57(6S3), p.06KA07_1 - 06KA07_6, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.57.06KA07

Thermal oxidation of AlGaN surface and its impact on the electrical properties of AlGaN/GaN MOS capacitors were investigated by means of synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and C-V measurements. SR-PES analysis revealed that the AlGaN surface is oxidized even at low temperature of 400C, in contrast to no oxide formation on GaN surface. However, since no noticeable change in the surface morphology was observed at temperatures up to 800C, it can be concluded that an ultrathin oxide overlayer is formed on the AlGaN surface. On the other hand, for the oxidation treatments above 850C, the formation of small oxide grains was observed over the entire area of the AlGaN surface, and the growth of oxide grains significantly degraded the surface morphology. Therefore, the AlGaN/GaN MOS capacitors were fabricated on the AlGaN surface oxidized at moderate temperatures up to 800C. While we have confirmed that relatively good interface properties are obtained for direct AlON deposition without oxidation treatment, it was found that the oxidation treatment at 400C leads to further improvement of interface properties and reduction of C-V hysteresis.

First direct mass measurements of nuclides around = 100 with a multireflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph

Ito, Yuta*; Schury, P.*; Wada, Michiharu*; Arai, Fumiya*; Haba, Hiromitsu*; Hirayama, Yoshikazu*; Ishizawa, Satoshi*; Kaji, Daiya*; Kimura, Sota*; Koura, Hiroyuki; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 120(15), p.152501_1 - 152501_6, 2018/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.152501

Masses of Es, Fm and the transfermium nuclei Md, and No, produced by hot- and cold-fusion reactions, in the vicinity of the deformed neutron shell closure, have been directly measured using a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph. The masses of Es and Md were measured for the first time. Using the masses of Md as anchor points for decay chains, the masses of heavier nuclei, up to Bh and Mt, were determined. These new masses were compared with theoretical global mass models and demonstrated to be in good agreement with macroscopic-microscopic models in this region. The empirical shell gap parameter derived from three isotopic masses was updated with the new masses and corroborate the existence of the deformed neutron shell closure for Md and Lr.

Determination of fusion barrier distributions from quasielastic scattering cross sections towards superheavy nuclei synthesis

Tanaka, Taiki*; Narikiyo, Yoshihiro*; Morita, Kosuke*; Fujita, Kunihiro*; Kaji, Daiya*; Morimoto, Koji*; Yamaki, Sayaka*; Wakabayashi, Yasuo*; Tanaka, Kengo*; Takeyama, Mirei*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 87(1), p.014201_1 - 014201_9, 2018/01

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.87.014201

Excitation functions of quasielastic scattering cross sections for the Ca + Pb, Ti + Pb, and Ca + Cm reactions were successfully measured by using the gas-filled recoil-ion separator GARIS. Fusion barrier distributions were extracted from these data, and compared with the coupled-channels calculations. It was found that the peak energies of the barrier distributions for the Ca + Pb and Ti + Pb systems coincide with those of the 2n evaporation channel cross sections for the systems, while that of the Ca + Cm is located slightly below the 4n evaporation ones. This results provide us helpful information to predict the optimum beam energy to synthesize superheavy nuclei.