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International audience; The advent of multi-PW laser facilities world-wide opens new opportunities for nuclear physics. With this perspective, we developed a neutron counter taking into account the specifics of a high-intensity laser environment. Using GEANT4 simulations and prototype testings, we report on the design of a modular neutron counter based on boron-10 enriched scintillators and a high-density polyethylene moderator. This detector has been calibrated using a plutonium-beryllium neutron source and commissioned during an actual neutron-producing laser experiment at the LULI2000 facility (France). An overall efficiency of 4.37(59)% has been demonstrated during calibration with a recovery time of a few hundred microseconds after laser-plasma interaction.

The DIRAC spectrometer installed at CERN PS was upgraded in order to study simultaneously A2π and AπK atoms, namely the bound states of two π mesons, and of π and K mesons, respectively. The detector system can now accept a high intensity beam of 2–6×1011 primary protons per second. The electronics and the data-acquisition system can handle a very large amount of data to identify π, K, p, e and µ, allowing the selection of ππ and πK pairs in the offline analysis. The resolution of the longitudinal and transverse components of the relative momentum Q of each meson pair in their center-of-mass system with respect to the direction of the pair was substantially improved. The analysis of their distributions allowed an reliable separation between the meson pairs originating from hadronic atoms and the backgrounds permitting the measurement of the lifetimes of hadronic atoms in the ground state and π–π, π–K s-wave scattering lengths. The upgraded setup also allowed the study of the long-lived excited states of ππ atoms.

The adapted DIRAC experiment at the CERN PS accelerator observed for the first time long-lived hydrogenlike π+π- atoms, produced by protons hitting a beryllium target. A part of these atoms crossed the gap of 96 mm between the target and a 2.1 μm thick platinum foil, in which most of them dissociated. Analyzing the observed number of atomic pairs, nAL=436-61+157|tot, the lifetime of the 2p state is found to be τ2p=(0.45-0.30+1.08|tot)×10-11 s, not contradicting the corresponding QED 2p state lifetime τ2pQED=1.17×10-11 s. This lifetime value is three orders of magnitude larger than our previously measured value of the π+π- atom ground state lifetime τ=(3.15-0.26+0.28|tot)×10-15 s. Further studies of long-lived π+π- atoms will allow us to measure energy differences between p and s atomic states and so to discriminate between the isoscalar and isotensor ππ scattering lengths with the aim to check QCD predictions.

Wayforlight.eu is the gateway to finding the most suitable instruments for experiments with synchrotron, FEL, and laser light sources. The portal's main asset is a detailed searchable catalogue of facilities, beamlines, and instrumentation available at European light sources. Thanks to its advanced search tools, a visitor can filter beamlines by scientific discipline, by technique, but also by energy range or sample type.

We present results of 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of carbon ion acceleration by 10 petawatt (PW) laser pulses, studying both circular polarized (CP) and linear polarized (LP) pulses. We carry out a thickness scanning of a solid carbon target to investigate the ideal thickness for carbon ion acceleration mechanisms using a 10 PW laser with an irradiance of 5 × 1022 W cm−2. The energy spectra of carbon ions and electrons and their temperature are studied. Additionally, for the carbon ions, their angular divergence is studied. It is shown that the ideal thickness for the carbon acceleration is 120 nm and the cutoff energy for carbon ions is 5 and 3 GeV for CP and LP pulses, respectively. The corresponding carbon ions temperature is ~1 and ~0.75 GeV. On the other hand, the energy cutoff for the electrons is ~500 MeV with LP and ~400 MeV with CP laser pulses. We report that the breakout afterburner mechanism is most likely causing the acceleration of carbon ions to such high energies for the optimal target thickness.

The Preshower (PSh) detector is a component of the DIRAC setup. It is designed to improve rejection efficiency of e-e+ pairs background in the {\pi}{\pi} and K{\pi} pair measurement. To increase the overall efficiency, a new two-layer structure scintillator Preshower detector has been realized in the region where the Nitrogen Cherenkov detector has been shortened to introduce new detectors. The new Preshower-Cherenkov combination ensures the electron rejection efficiency better than 99.9% in momentum region 1-7 GeV/c., Comment: to be published in NIMA

After having announced the statistically significant observation ($5.6\ensuremath{\sigma}$) of the new exotic $\ensuremath{\pi}K$ atom, the DIRAC experiment at the CERN proton synchrotron presents the measurement of the corresponding atom lifetime, based on the full $\ensuremath{\pi}K$ data sample: $\ensuremath{\tau}=(5.{5}_{\ensuremath{-}2.8}^{+5.0})\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{s}$. By means of a precise relation ($\ensuremath{\approx}1%$) between atom lifetime and scattering length, the following value for the $S$-wave isospin-odd $\ensuremath{\pi}K$ scattering length ${a}_{0}^{\ensuremath{-}}=\frac{1}{3}({a}_{1/2}\ensuremath{-}{a}_{3/2})$ has been derived: $|{a}_{0}^{\ensuremath{-}}|=(0.07{2}_{\ensuremath{-}0.020}^{+0.031}){M}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$.

The results of a search for hydrogen-like atoms consisting of $\pi^{\mp}K^{\pm}$ mesons are presented. Evidence for $\pi K$ atom production by 24 GeV/c protons from CERN PS interacting with a nickel target has been seen in terms of characteristic $\pi K$ pairs from their breakup in the same target ($178 \pm 49$) and from Coulomb final state interaction ($653 \pm 42$). Using these results the analysis yields a first value for the $\pi K$ atom lifetime of $\tau=(2.5_{-1.8}^{+3.0})$ fs and a first model-independent measurement of the S-wave isospin-odd $\pi K$ scattering length $\left|a_0^-\right|=\frac{1}{3}\left|a_{1/2}-a_{3/2}\right|= \left(0.11_{-0.04}^{+0.09} \right)M_{\pi}^{-1}$ ($a_I$ for isospin $I$)., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

The observation of hydrogenlike πK atoms, consisting of π^{-}K^{+} or π^{+}K^{-} mesons, is presented. The atoms are produced by 24 GeV/c protons from the CERN PS accelerator, interacting with platinum or nickel foil targets. The breakup (ionization) of πK atoms in the same targets yields characteristic πK pairs, called "atomic pairs," with small relative momenta Q in the pair center-of-mass system. The upgraded DIRAC experiment observed 349±62 such atomic πK pairs, corresponding to a signal of 5.6 standard deviations. This is the first statistically significant observation of the strange dimesonic πK atom.

The observation of hydrogenlike πK atoms, consisting of π^{-}K^{+} or π^{+}K^{-} mesons, is presented. The atoms are produced by 24 GeV/c protons from the CERN PS accelerator, interacting with platinum or nickel foil targets. The breakup (ionization) of πK atoms in the same targets yields characteristic πK pairs, called "atomic pairs," with small relative momenta Q in the pair center-of-mass system. The upgraded DIRAC experiment observed 349±62 such atomic πK pairs, corresponding to a signal of 5.6 standard deviations. This is the first statistically significant observation of the strange dimesonic πK atom.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful medical tool for the early diagnosis of cancer but it is still too expensive for widespread use. This is mainly due to the cost of the many crystals and photosensors used. In building a PET imager, crystal read-out using wavelength shifter fibers (WLS) permits the use of many small crystals with a reduced number of photomultipliers, thus promising good spatial resolution at lower cost. However, the main drawback of this method has been low efficiency of photon collection. Improvements in design of our readout system over the last several years have resulted in a factor of more than ten in efficiency. As a result, from the point of view of detection efficiency, this method can now be considered as applicable to the construction of a real device. A pad composed of 16 16 LYSO (Ce) crystals has been read out by using a 2 16 Kuraray Y-11 WLS and Hamamatsu H6568ModIII photomultipliers, in a coincidence measurement using a 22Na β+ source. The size of each crystal is 1 mm 1 mm 20 mm. The attenuation of the number of photons compared with the direct readout is about 1/47, and this attenuation factor seems not to vary from event to event. This results in a detection efficiency almost equal to that of the block detector with the same thickness. The matching of the refractive indices of the crystal and of the thin plastic sheet, inserted between the crystals and WLS, removes the crosstalk between the crystals, which results in a very good spatial resolution close to the intrinsic resolution of 0.33 mm RMS. The timing fluctuation of the detector is such that if a pair of such detectors are used in an actual PET, and if a time window of 15 ns is applied, the event loss due to the fluctuation of the timing in the coincidence will be about 1.6%. A full size animal PET with 20 cm internal diameter built with this arrangement will need only 54 of such photomultipliers.

Scintillation characteristics of a thin long strip (2×2×200 mm3) of Gd2SiO5:Ce3+ 1.5 mol% single crystal was studied for 0.511 MeV γ-rays in order to examine the feasibility of fine-segmented γ-ray as well as charged particle detectors at low energies with good energy and position resolutions. From the pulse height and timing measurements at both ends, we obtained an energy resolution of 35–24% fwhm depending on position, and a position resolution of 10 mm rms almost independent of position. The attenuation of light yield with respect to the position z along the strip length is well fitted with a single exponential function exp(−z/λa) with an attenuation length λa=6.7±0.6 cm. The point injector of γ-rays worked excellently with negligible background. Possibility of application to axial PET scanners is also briefly discussed.

After observing and investigating the double-exotic $\pi^+\pi^-$ atom with the ground state lifetime $\tau$ of about $3 \times 10^{-15}$~s, the upgraded DIRAC experiment at the CERN PS accelerator observes for the first time long-lived states of the same atom with lifetimes of about $10^{-11}$~s and more. The number of characteristic pion pairs resulting from the breakup (ionisation) of long-lived $\pi^+\pi^-$ atoms amounts to $436\pm61$, corresponding to a signal-to-error ratio of better than 7 standard deviations. This observation opens a new possibility to measure energy differences between $p$ and $s$ atomic states and so to determine $\pi \pi$ scattering lengths., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures