Commissioning of the IDS Neutron Detector and $\beta$-decay fast-timing studies at IDS

The following report describes my scientific activities performed during the Summer Student Programme at ISOLDE. The main part of my project was focused on commissioning the neutron detector dedicated to nuclear decay studies at ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS). I have participated in all the steps needed to make it operational for the IS609 experiment. In the testing phase, we obtained expected detector response and calibrations confirmed its successful commissioning. The detector was mounted in the desired geometry at IDS and used in measurements of the beta-delayed neutron emission of $^8$He. After completing aforementioned part of my project, I became familiar with the fast-timing method. This technique was applied at IDS in the IS610 experiment performed in June 2016 to explore the structure of neutron-rich $^{130-134}$Sn nuclei. Since the main part of my PhD studies will be the analysis of data collected in this experiment, the second part of my project was dedicated to acquiring knowledge about technical details of the experimental setup at IDS during measurements in June. I became familiar with local data acquisition system NUTAQ and data analysis software GASPware. My task was to convert raw data collected in IS610 experiment to GASPware format and then sort data to create desired spectra, which allow to combine gamma spectroscopy and fast-timing technique.