ABSTRACT
A supersonic gas jet target built for studying heavyion induced nuclear reactions with high energy resolution is described. The present gas target has already been used in an Enge split-pole magnetic spectrograph and a standard 48 cm ORTEC scattering chamber, and could also be used with the Elbek magnetic spectrograph and the time-of-flight spectrometer. The gas jet is formed with a convergent-divergent Laval nozzle which allows for rapid supersonic expansion of gas at high pressures into the target region. The crucial ingredient of any gas jet target is the vacuum pumping system. The energy loss measurements and Rutherford scattering show good agreement with the calculated target density. There seems to be a wide variety of experiments including studies of continuum and high resolution spectra of products from heavy ion induced reactions for which a gas jet target is very useful.
