Detection of Protons Emitted from (p, 2p) Reactions with Straw-Tube Array

A challenge in studying neutron-rich nuclei via in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy is the restriction in the thickness of the target. To solve this and perform high-resolution spectroscopy without the restriction of thickness, a thick target of liquid hydrogen coupled with proton-sensitive gas-filled straw-tube detectors is under development. Protons are emitted when the nucleons of the neutron-rich ion beam interact with the target in a (p,2p) reaction, and the straw-tube detectors surrounding the target exploit the ionization of the gas that occurs to detect emitted protons as they pass through. These detectors can be used to trace back to the vertex of the reaction in the target, allowing an effective Doppler correction while maximizing the reaction rate, overcoming the previous restrictions of target thickness. I will present progress on simulations using the CERN toolkit "Garfield++", being performed to determine the optimal configurations for these detectors, including their size, voltage, and arrangement.