Polarized Monoenergetic Gamma Beams for Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Applications

Anton P. Tonchev
Duke University and Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory

Photonuclear reactions are one of the main sources of spectroscopic information about the properties of excited states of nuclei. These reactions allow the determination of several parameters of nuclear levels (excitation energies Ex, spins J, parities , electric and magnetic moments, and decay branching ratios). The advent of a formerly not unavailable quasi-monoenergetic, easily energy tunable, and 100% polarized gamma beam allows us to measure these nuclear level parameters in a completely model-independent way.  Using the advantages of the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIGS) at Duke Free Electron Laser facility will allow us to gain new insight about the mechanism of photonuclear reactions at the energies of the Giant Dipole Resonance and below it. Recent experimental results at HIGS will be presented.