HRIBF studies of r-process nuclei and first results with the new SuperORRUBA detector

The astrophysical rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) is believed to have produced approximately half of the nuclear species more massive than Fe. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about the structure of the majority of the extremely neutron-rich nuclei involved in the reaction flow. At exotic beam facilities such as the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF), measurements with accelerated beams of fission fragments have provided some of the first spectroscopic information on many r-process nuclei. The new SuperORRUBA (Oak Ridge Rutgers University Barrel Array) detector has been constructed at the HRIBF to study such nuclei, and first results are presented.