Performance of and experiments with the recoil separator CARP at RCNP

Abstract A recoil mass separator (CARP) in operation at RCNP is described. The optimization of the operational parameters of the separator has been carried out experimentally. The procedure and the resulting performance of the system are presented. The mass resolution has been observed to be about 800 for the fusion-evaporation residues for a solid angle of 2 msr. The practical solid angle has been found to be limited to about 5.5 msr, due primarily to a presence of one of the third order aberrations. The current experiments with the separator are briefly described.