Spin Physics at MAMI

New Information on Nuclear Structure in the Cd-In-Sn Region from Laser Spectroscopy and the Question of Core Polarization Contribution to Nuclear Radii

Nuclear spin, moments and isotope shifts of charge radii have been measured by laser spectroscopy for about 70 nuclear states in the range 48 ≦ Z ≦ 50, 54 ≦ N ≦ 78. 1/2--states in heavy In-isotopes cross the Schmidt line, indicating complex nuclear structure. Magnetic as well as spectroscopic quadrupole moments of most of the odd odd In-isotopes can be reproduced satisfactorily by coupling the respective experimental moments of odd even and even odd neighbouring nuclei. The isotope shift of all three elements exhibits a parabolic shape, which is superimposed to the almost linear droplet model expectation. The shape can be fitted quantitatively to Talmis core polarization model. The curvatur…

DETERMINATION OF NUCLEAR GROUND STATE PROPERTIES FAR FROM STABILITY BY OPTICAL PUMPING

The possibilities of determining nuclear spin, moments and variation in charge volume by optical pumping of on line masseparated isotopes are described for the example of the isotopic chain lY1Hg-205Hg. The variation in nuclear charge volume (6 ) along this chain and in particular its abrupt change for the lightest Hg-isotopes, indicating a phase transition in nuclear structure, are discussed. 1. Introduction. - This talk is based on expe- riments (I), (2), (3) performed recently by a visiting team (*) at the ISOLDE facility at CERN with the members : J. Bonn, G. Huber, H.-J. Kluge, U. Kopf, L. Kugler, J. Rodriguez, and E. W. Otten. The investigation of the hyperfine structure (hfs) and iso…

Determination of trace elements by resonant ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS)

A resonant ionization mass spectrometer has been developed as an analytical tool for the detection of trace elements, especially of plutonium and other radionuclides. The sample, deposited on a rhenium filament, is evaporated by electrical heating and the atoms of the element under investigation are selectively ionized by laser light delivered from three dye lasers pumped by a copper vapour laser. The resulting photoions are detected in a time-of-flight spectrometer with a channelplate detector. For plutonium a mass resolution of M/δM=1500 was obtained and an overall detection efficiency of 4×10−6 was determined for stepwise excitation and ionization via autoionizing states. With a laser li…

Realization of a broad-band neutron spin filter with compressed, polarized 3He gas

The strongly spin-dependent absorption of neutrons in nuclear spin polarized 3He opens the possibility to polarize beams of thermal and epithermal neutrons. An effective 3He neutron spin filter (NSF) requires high 3He nuclear polarization as well as a filter thickness corresponding to amount of gas in the order of 1 bar 1. We realized such a filter using direct optical pumping of metastable 3He∗ atoms in a 3He plasma at 1 mb. Metastable exchange scattering transfers the angular momentum to the whole ensemble of 3He atoms. At present 3.6 × 1018 3He-atoms s−1 are polarized up to 68%. Subsequent polarization preserving compression by a two-stage compressor system enables to prepare NSF cells o…

Lasers in Nuclear Physics

The application of lasers in fundamental nuclear research has been devoted predominantly to the investigation of nuclear structure of unstable isotopes through the measurement of isotope shift and hyperfine splitting of the atomic spectrum of the nuclei in question. From the isotope shift one deduces the change of nuclear charge distribution — or more precisely the change of the mean-squared nuclear charge radius δ -, whereas the hyperfine structure yields the spin (I), the magnetic moment (μI) and the electric quadrupole moment (Qs) of the nucleus. These four nuclear properties form the cornerstones for any quantitative theory of nuclear structure. In this respect, systematic measurements,…

Feasibility of photoelectron sources for testing the energy scale stablity of the KATRIN beta-ray spectrometer

Photoabsorption of nuclear gamma-rays in thin metallic convertors was examined with the aim to produce monoenergetic photoelectrons of kinetic energy around 18.6 keV and natural width of about 1 eV. Calculations were carried out for commercial photon sources of 241Am (1.1 GBq) and 119mSn (0.5 GBq) irradiating Co and Ti convertors. Photoelectrons ejected by 241Am gamma- and X-rays from Co convertors of various thickness were measured with two electrostatic spectrometers.

Hyperfine and Isotope Shift Measurements Far off Stability by Optical Pumping

In this talk I will review optical pumping (OP) experiments performed by our group to ISOLDE, CERN, in a series of Hg isotopes spanning from mass number 181 to 205 (first results in refs. [1] and [2], final in refs. [3] and [4]. I will then discuss what impact these measurements had on nuclear structure research far off stability and how the results of the latter are retroacting again on the optical work. In particular they ask for isotope shifts (IS) of light even Hg isotopes which we are prepared to measure by laser spectroscopy. Further I would like to communicate briefly first results of optical pumping experiments on “exotic” Rb and Cs isotopes. Finally I will discuss plans for laser s…

Trace determination of 90Sr and 89Sr in environmental samples by collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy

Collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy has been developed as a sensitive technique for fast trace detection of 90Sr and 89Sr in the environment. A detection limit for 90Sr of 107 atoms in the presence of 1017 atoms in the presence of 1017 atoms of stable Strontium has been achieved, while the applicability of the method has been demonstrated on real world samples. After collection and chemical separation, strontium is surface ionized, accelerated to 33keV and mass separated. The ions are neutralized and the emerging fast atoms interact with an argon ion laser beam (γ=364 nm) in a quasi‐collinear geometry. Optical excitation starts from the long‐lived 5s4d3 D2 state of strontium, which …