F Alemanno, Q An, P Azzarello, F C T Barbato, P Bernardini, X J Bi, H V Boutin, I Cagnoli, M S Cai, E Casilli, J Chang, D Y Chen, J L Chen, Z F Chen, Z X Chen, P Coppin, M Y Cui, T S Cui, I De Mitri, F de Palma, A Di Giovanni, T K Dong, Z X Dong, G Donvito, J L Duan, K K Duan, R R Fan, Y Z Fan, F Fang, K Fang, C Q Feng, L Feng, S Fogliacco, J M Frieden, P Fusco, M Gao, F Gargano, E Ghose, K Gong, Y Z Gong, D Y Guo, J H Guo, S X Han, Y M Hu, G S Huang, X Y Huang, Y Y Huang, M Ionica, L Y Jiang, W Jiang, Y Z Jiang, J Kong, A Kotenko, D Kyratzis, S J Lei, B Li, M B Li, W L Li, W H Li, X Li, X Q Li, Y M Liang, C M Liu, H Liu, J Liu, S B Liu, Y Liu, F Loparco, M Ma, P X Ma, T Ma, X Y Ma, G Marsella, M N Mazziotta, D Mo, Y Nie, X Y Niu, A Parenti, W X Peng, X Y Peng, C Perrina, E Putti Garcia, R Qiao, J N Rao, Y Rong, A Serpolla, R Sarkar, P Savina, Z Shangguan, W H Shen, Z Q Shen, Z T Shen, L Silveri, J X Song, H Su, M Su, H R Sun, Z Y Sun, A Surdo, X J Teng, A Tykhonov, G F Wang, J Z Wang, L G Wang, S Wang, X L Wang, Y F Wang, D M Wei, J J Wei, Y F Wei, D Wu, J Wu, S S Wu, X Wu, Z Q Xia, Z Xiong, E H Xu, H T Xu, J Xu, Z H Xu, Z Z Xu, Z L Xu, G F Xue, M Y Yan, H B Yang, P Yang, Y Q Yang, H J Yao, Y H Yu, Q Yuan, C Yue, J J Zang, S X Zhang, W Z Zhang, Y Zhang, Y P Zhang, Y Zhang, Y J Zhang, Y Q Zhang, Y L Zhang, Z Zhang, Z Y Zhang, C Zhao, H Y Zhao, X F Zhao, C Y Zhou, X Zhu, Y Zhu, DAMPE Collaboration
Nickel, one of the most tightly bound nuclei alongside iron, is the most abundant heavy element beyond iron in cosmic rays. With DAMPE's excellent charge resolution and broad energy range, a high-precision energy spectrum provides valuable insights into the acceleration sources of heavy nuclei and their propagation through the interstellar medium. In this analysis, we report the direct measurement of cosmic-ray nickel spectrum from 10 GeV/n to 2 TeV/n with nine years of flight data. The nickel spectrum is consistent with a single power law with spectral index -2.60±0.03 from 40 GeV/n to 1 TeV/n. This Letter provides an accurate measurement of differential flux of nickel with kinetic energy extending to TeV/n for the first time.