https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-026-01786-8
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
induced reactions for nuclear astrophysics at sub-barrier energies
1
Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH), Reactorului 30, 077125, Magurele, Romania
2
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Karolinenplatz 5, 64277, Darmstadt, Germany
a
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Received:
21
October
2025
Accepted:
3
January
2026
Published online:
2
February
2026
Reactions induced by alpha particles, which play an important role in nuclear astrophysics, were investigated at energies below the Coulomb barrier using our IFIN-HH facilities. These include the 3 MV Tandetron™ accelerator [1], a local laboratory and the ultra-low background laboratory 
Bq [2] located in a salt mine. Thick Zn metal targets were irradiated at laboratory energies in the range 
= 5.4–8.0 MeV in 0.20 or 0.25 MeV steps. By measuring the prompt gamma-ray yields and the decay of radioisotopes produced in each reaction, in the Nuclear Astrophysics Group (NAG) and the Bq laboratories [3], we determined the thick target yields, which were subsequently used to evaluate the reaction cross sections. We succeeded in determining the cross section for +64Zn for the proton evaporation and radiative alpha capture channels at the lowest energies ever measured, deep inside the Gamow window for stellar processes at temperatures of 2–3 GK.
© The Author(s) 2026
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