Abstract

• A nuclear track emulsion (NTE) is exposed to 60MeV 8He nuclei. Measurements of decays of 8He nuclei stopped in nuclear track emulsion allow one to evaluate possibilities of alpha spectrometry. Thermal drift of 8He atoms is observed in nuclear emulsion. Knowledge of the energy and emission ranges of alpha particles allows one to derive the energy distributions of alpha decays Q2α. The presence of a tail of large values is established. Presented in this report is the time of flight estimate for 8He based upon data obtained from an emulsion stack exposed to 1.6GeV/c K- mesons. The lifetime of 8He is about 0.1 s and the decays of 8He were obtained in a total estimated time of flight of 8He (→8Li+β-, (→8Be+β-) 2.6±0.21 psec. The forward to backward ratio indicates isotropic emission of 8Be (or 8Li) fragments. The emission of short recoils at the primary vertex shows a definite correlation with the 8Be (or 8Li) fragments.