$\beta -$Decay Study of the rp-Process Nucleus $^{96}$Cd*

The half-life of $^{96}$Cd, one of the major waiting points along the reaction path of the rp-process [1] has been measured at NSCL. Nuclei of interest were produced by fragmentation of a 120 MeV/u $^{112}$Sn primary beam on a Be target and selected with the A1900 fragment separator in conjunction with the RF Fragment Separator [2]. The experimental setup, which consisted on the NSCL $\beta $-Counting System [3] and the Segmented Germanium Array [4], permitted the correlation of implants and decays as well as the detection of both prompt and $\beta $-delayed $\gamma $-rays from implanted ions. Details of the experiment and results will be presented and their implications discussed. [1] H. Schatz et al., Phys. Rep. 294, 167 1998 [2] D. Gorelov et al. PAC 2005, Knoxville, TN, May 16-20 [3] J. Prisciandaro et al., NIM A 505, 140 2003 [4] W. Mueller et al., NIM A 466, 492 2001