The HEAT Project: Study of Hydrogen Desorption from Carbon Targets

HEAT (Hydrogen dEsorption from cArbon Targets) is a new project started in 2018 with the aim of studying the desorption of hydrogen and deuterium contaminations from carbon targets used for Nuclear Astrophysics studies, with special reference to the 1212C+1212C fusion reaction. 1212C+1212C fusion is the dominant process during stellar carbon burning and its cross section is a crucial parameter in modern astrophysics, given its strong influence on stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. The direct measurements of the 1212C+1212C cross section performed so far were affected by a strong beam induced background due to the interaction of the carbon beam with hydrogen and deuterium contaminations inside the targets. The HEAT experiment aims at establishing a reproducible technique for hydrogen desorption from different types of carbon targets. The temperature of the samples will be increased uniformly up to 1200 ∘∘C through a heating device with a well defined temperature gradient. The contamination level will be measured before and after the desorption process exploiting ion beam analysis techniques.