Superheated droplet detectors - a new way to study the ¹²C(α,γ)¹⁶O reaction

The ¹²C(α,γ)¹⁶O reaction is one of the most important reactions in stellar nucleosynthesis and, for that reason, has sometimes been called ‘the holy grail’ of nuclear astrophysics. I will give a brief status report on earlier measurements and then discuss a new approach, which will utilize a superheated droplet detector and the free electron laser at Duke University.