The reaction ${}^6\mathrm{He}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$ was studied in order to investigate the effects of the projectile neutron-halo structure on the reaction mechanism at energies around the Coulomb barrier. Elastic scattering angular distributions, transfer∕breakup angular distributions, and fusion excitation functions have been measured. Due to the low-recoil energy of the evaporation residues and the low intensity of the ${}^6\mathrm{He}$ beam, the fusion cross section was measured by detecting off-line the atomic x-ray emission which follows the electron capture decay of the evaporation residues. For comparison the reaction ${}^4\mathrm{He}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$ was studied using the same technique. The data for the reaction ${}^6\mathrm{He}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$ show that the transfer and breakup mechanisms account for almost $80\%$ of the total reaction cross section, moreover we do not observe an enhancement of the fusion cross section when compared with the ${}^4\mathrm{He}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$ reaction.

In recent years, several new applications of SiC (both 4H and 3C polytypes) have been proposed in different papers. In this review, several of these emerging applications have been reported to show the development status, the main problems to be solved and the outlooks for these new devices. The use of SiC for high temperature applications in space, high temperature CMOS, high radiation hard detectors, new optical devices, high frequency MEMS, new devices with integrated 2D materials and biosensors have been extensively reviewed in this paper. The development of these new applications, at least for the 4H-SiC ones, has been favored by the strong improvement in SiC technology and in the material quality and price, due to the increasing market for power devices. However, at the same time, these new applications need the development of new processes and the improvement of material properties (high temperature packages, channel mobility and threshold voltage instability improvement, thick epitaxial layers, low defects, long carrier lifetime, low epitaxial doping). Instead, in the case of 3C-SiC applications, several new projects have developed material processes to obtain more performing MEMS, photonics and biomedical devices. Despite the good performance of these devices and the potential market, the further development of the material and of the specific processes and the lack of several SiC foundries for these applications are limiting further development in these fields.

The nuclear reaction known as proton-boron fusion has been triggered by a subnanosecond laser system focused onto a thick boron nitride target at modest laser intensity ($\sim {10}^{16}{\mathrm{W}/\mathrm{cm}}^2$), resulting in a record yield of generated α particles. The estimated value of α particles emitted per laser pulse is around ${10}^{11}$, thus orders of magnitude higher than any other experimental result previously reported. The accelerated α-particle stream shows unique features in terms of kinetic energy (up to 10 MeV), pulse duration (∼10 ns), and peak current (∼2 A) at 1 m from the source, promising potential applications of such neutronless nuclear fusion reactions. We have used a beam-driven fusion scheme to explain the total number of α particles generated in the nuclear reaction. In this model, protons accelerated inside the plasma, moving forward into the bulk of the target, can interact with ${}^{11}\mathrm{B}$ atoms, thus efficiently triggering fusion reactions. An overview of literature results obtained with different laser parameters, experimental setups, and target compositions is reported and discussed.

The ${}^{11}\mathrm{B}\left(p,{\alpha }_0\right){}^8\mathrm{Be}$ reaction was studied from $1\text{MeV}$ down to astrophysical energies by means of the Trojan-horse method applied to the ${}^2\mathrm{H}\left({}^{11}\mathrm{B},{\alpha }_o{}^8\mathrm{Be}\right)n$ three-body reaction performed at an incident energy of $27\text{MeV}$. Coincidence spectra measured in a kinematically complete experiment show the presence of the quasifree ${}^{11}\mathrm{B}‐p$ process. The astrophysical factor $S\left(E\right)$ for the ${}^{11}\mathrm{B}\left(p,{\alpha }_0\right){}^8\mathrm{Be}$ reaction was extracted from the three-body cross section at low neutron momentum. The result was compared with the behavior of the astrophysical factor from the directly measured two-body reaction.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a compound semiconductor, which is considered as a possible alternative to silicon for particles and photons detection. Its characteristics make it very promising for the next generation of nuclear and particle physics experiments at high beam luminosity. Silicon Carbide detectors for Intense Luminosity Investigations and Applications (SiCILIA) is a project starting as a collaboration between the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and IMM-CNR, aiming at the realization of innovative detection systems based on SiC. In this paper, we discuss the main features of silicon carbide as a material and its potential application in the field of particles and photons detectors, the project structure and the strategies used for the prototype realization, and the first results concerning prototype production and their performance.

The ${}^{17}\mathrm{O}$($p,\alpha$)${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ reaction is of fundamental relevance in several astrophysical scenarios, such as novae, asymptotic giant branch nucleosynthesis, and $\gamma$-ray astronomy. We report on the indirect measurement of the ${}^{17}\mathrm{O}$($p,\alpha$)${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ reaction bare-nucleus cross section in the low-energy region. In particular, the two resonances at $E_R^{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=65$ keV and $E_R^{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=183$ keV, which dominate the reaction rate inside the Gamow window, have been observed, and the strength of the 65 keV resonance has been deduced. The reaction rate determination and the comparison with the results of the previous measurements are also discussed.