Production andβDecay ofrp-Process NucleiCd96,In98, andSn100

The $\ensuremath{\beta}$-decay properties of the $N=Z$ nuclei $^{96}\mathrm{Cd}$, $^{98}\mathrm{In}$, and $^{100}\mathrm{Sn}$ have been studied. These nuclei were produced at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory by fragmenting a $120\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{\text{nucleon}}$ $^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$ primary beam on a Be target. The resulting radioactive beam was filtered in the A1900 and the newly commissioned Radio Frequency Fragment Separator to achieve a purity level suitable for decay studies. The observed production cross sections of these nuclei are lower than predicted by factors of 10--30. The half-life of $^{96}\mathrm{Cd}$, which was the last experimentally unknown waiting point half-life of the astrophysical $rp$ process, is ${1.03}_{\ensuremath{-}0.21}^{+0.24}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{s}$. The implications of the experimental ${T}_{1/2}$ value of $^{96}\mathrm{Cd}$ on the abundances predicted by $rp$ process calculations and the origin of $A=96$ isobars such as $^{96}\mathrm{Ru}$ are explored.