Rare-Earth Thin Film Target Preparations and Techniques for (p,t) Reactions 

Accelerator based low energy nuclear physics can provide great insight into the structure of nuclei. The search for 0+ states in the rare-earth region via the (p,t) reaction has revolutionized nuclear structure by the discovery of numerous 0+ states below the pairing gap. This was made possible with the high precision Q3D spectrometer at the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory in Germany. Our aim is to explore and complete the studies of 0+ states in the deformed rare earth region of nuclei on the chart of nuclides. A particular challenge lies in making targets for the experiments. At the University of Notre Dame the lanthanides, Erbium-168, Dysprosium-162, Ytterbium-174, and Ytterbium-176, were experimented on to create the best thin film targets for this experiment. A bell jar evaporator and electron beam evaporator were used for the low and high temperatures lanthanides, respectively. The challenge was in the deposition of the high temperature lanthanides. In time, the procedure worked and multiple targets were created for the experiment. The different techniques, how the targets performed, and preliminary experimental results will be presented.