MAYA: An active target detector for the study of extremely exotic nuclei

With the recent improvements on production of radioactive beams at facilities such as SPIRAL at GANIL or ISAC at TRIUMF, a larger area of the nuclear chart is now accessible for experimentation. For these usually low-intensity and low-energy secondary beams, we have developed the new MAYA detector based on the active target concept. This device allows to use a relatively thick target without loss of resolution by using the detection gas as target material. A dedicated 3-D tracking, particle identification, energy loss and range measurements allow complete kinematics reconstruction of reactions taking place inside MAYA. Recent results from studies of ⁷H nuclear system performed at GANIL and of the outer skin structure of the exotic nucleus ¹¹Li performed at TRIUMF will be reviewed. The capabilities of this new techniques in future experimental studies with secondary exotic beams near and beyond the drip lines, where large kinematics ranges are needed, including regions not accessible with the standard techniques, will be discussed.