Fragmentation cross-section of relativistic oxygen ions and determination of overlap parameter

Fragmentation cross-section of¹⁶O relativistic ions, at two different energies, was measured in CsI crystal. An experiment designed basically to study primary cosmic ray nuclei, was exposed to monoenergetic beam of¹⁶O ions of bevatron. Fragmentation of the ions was observed in a two layer CsI target. Each CsI crystal was 1 inch thick. The main energy of the beam was 2.1 GeV/nucleon. A subsidiary beam of 0.5 GeV/nucleon oxygen-ions was created for this experiment alone. The number of fragmentations occurring in each crystal was used to obtain the total fragmentation cross-section at these energies. The Bradt-Peters overlap parameter was derived from these cross-sections. The experiment was designed and fabricated at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA and was performed in the accelerator facilities of the University of California, Berkeley, Calif., USA.