0000000000033368
AUTHOR
Dag Hanstorp
A fully manipulable damped driven harmonic oscillator using optical levitation
We implement an experimental system based on optical levitation of a silicone oil droplet to demonstrate a damped driven harmonic oscillator. The apparatus allows us to control all the parameters present in the differential equation that theoretically describes such motion. The damping coefficient and driving force can be manipulated in situ by changing the pressure in the apparatus and by applying a variable electric field. We present two different experimental procedures. First, a transition from the overdamped to underdamped regimes is demonstrated by gradually lowering the air pressure. The characteristic resonance associated with an underdamped driven harmonic oscillator is observed by…
Isobar suppression in AMS using laser photodetachment
Abstract We are investigating the possibility of using laser photodetachment of negative atomic and molecular ions as an additional isobaric selection filter in accelerator mass spectrometry. The aim of this study is to find a possibility to further improve the detection limit for long-lived heavy radionuclides at AMS facilities. We will focus on the astrophysical relevant radionuclide 182Hf, which is one of the isotopes measured with the 3 MV tandem AMS facility VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator) at the University of Vienna. Laser-induced isobar suppression is also of importance for radioactive-beam facilities. The present detection limit for measuring the isotope ratio 182Hf…
Photorefraction demonstrations using electrooptic PLZT ceramics modulators
PLZT ceramics electrooptic (EO) modulator was designed for demonstrations and student's laboratory works to study photorefraction using Ar+ laser (λ = 514 nm). PLZT element had an aperture of 1.5 x 8 mm2 and thickness of 1.5 mm. Reading of recorded patterns was realized by applying to the element the biasing electric field. The most efficient writing took place for ceramics composition PLZT 8.75/65/35. The total intensity of two writing beams was up to 300 mW, the applied electric field during writing -- up to 20 kV/cm. The diffraction efficiency depended on the applied biasing reading electric field EBR . For the reading He-Ne laser the diffraction efficiency η ≈ 0.48 was obtained at the b…
Upgrades of the GANDALPH photodetachment detector towards the determination of the electron affinity of astatine
The Gothenburg ANion Detector for Affinity measurements by Laser PHotodetachment (GANDALPH) has recently been built for measurements of electron affinities (EA) of radioisotopes. A first measurement campaign is aimed towards the determination of the EA of astatine, the rarest naturally occurring element on earth. In this work we present several upgrades of GANDALPH which have been implemented in order to facilitate EA measurements of radioisotopes where only low intensity ion beams (< 1pA) can be produced.
The electron affinity of astatine
One of the most important properties influencing the chemical behavior of an element is the electron affinity (EA). Among the remaining elements with unknown EA is astatine, where one of its isotopes, 211At, is remarkably well suited for targeted radionuclide therapy of cancer. With the At− anion being involved in many aspects of current astatine labeling protocols, the knowledge of the electron affinity of this element is of prime importance. Here we report the measured value of the EA of astatine to be 2.41578(7) eV. This result is compared to state-of-the-art relativistic quantum mechanical calculations that incorporate both the Breit and the quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections and…
Depletion of the excited state population in negative ions using laser photodetachment in a gas-filled RF quadrupole ion guide
International audience; The depopulation of excited states in beams of negatively charged carbon and silicon ions was demonstrated using collisional detachment and laser photodetachment in a radio frequency quadrupole ion guide filled with helium. The high lying, loosely bound 2 D excited state in C − was completely depleted through collisional detachment alone, which was quantitatively determined within 6%. For Si − the combined signal from the population in the 2 P and 2 D excited states was only partly depleted through collisions in the cooler. The loosely bound 2 P state was likely to be completely depopulated and the more tightly bound 2 D state was partly depopulated through collision…
Selective detection of 13C by laser photodetachment mass spectrometry
Abstract In this paper, we demonstrate how laser photodetachment mass spectrometry (LPMS) can be used to selectively detect 13C− ions in the presence of 12C− ions in a low energy ion beam. An isotopically enriched beam of carbon ions consisting of equal amounts of 13C− and 12C− ions was extracted from an ion source. The ions interacted with a laser beam in a collinear geometry over a distance of 70 cm. Residual atoms produced in the photodetachment process were detected in a neutral particle detector placed downstream of the collinear interaction region. By making use of the Doppler effect we were able to selectively photodetach 13C− ions. The number of detected 13C atoms was 13 times large…
Operating a cesium sputter source in a pulsed mode
A scheme is presented for pulsing of a cesium sputter negative ion source by periodically switching on and off the high voltage driving the sputtering process. We demonstrate how the pulsed ion beam can be used in combination with a pulsed laser (6 ns pulse length) that has a 10 Hz repetition rate to study the photodetachment process, where a negative ion is neutralized due to the absorption of a photon. In such experiments, where the ion beam is used only for a small fraction of the time, we show that the pulsed mode operation can increase the lifetime of a cathode by two orders of magnitude as compared with DC operation. We also investigate how the peak ion current compares with the ion c…
The electron affinity of phosphorus
We have measured the energies of all three fine structure components in the 3PJ ground state of the negative ion of phosphorus using laser photodetachment threshold spectroscopy. The experiment yielded an electron affinity of 746.68(6) meV. The ΔJ = 2–0, 2–1 and 1–0 fine structure splittings were determined to be 32.73(7) meV, 22.48(7) meV and 10.25(3) meV, respectively. In the experiment, a mass selected beam of P− ions was merged with the output from a pulsed infrared optical parametric oscillator. The residual atoms produced in the photodetachment process were detected and used as a monitor of the photon-energy dependence of the relative cross section. The Wigner law was fitted to each o…
Feasibility of photodetachment isobar suppression of WF with respect to HfF
Abstract The feasibility of using laser photodetachment as a means for isobar suppression in accelerator mass spectrometry has been investigated for the special case of HfF 5 − /WF 5 − . A method for absolute photodetachment cross section measurements was applied and the cross sections of tungsten pentafluoride and hafnium pentafluoride negative ions were measured. The measurements indicate that the photodetachment cross section for WF 5 − is at least 100 times larger than for HfF 5 − at the wavelength of the fourth harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser at 266 nm. The absolute cross section for WF 5 − at this photon energy was found to be (2.8 ± 0.3) × 10 −18 cm 2 , while an upper limit of 2 × 10 −…
Laser photodetachment of radioactive $^{128}$I$^−$
International audience; The first experimental investigation of the electron affinity (EA) of a radioactive isotope has been conducted at the CERN-ISOLDE radioactive ion beam facility. The EA of the radioactive iodine isotope (128)I (t (1/2) = 25 min) was determined to be 3.059 052(38) eV. The experiment was conducted using the newly developed Gothenburg ANion Detector for Affinity measurements by Laser PHotodetachment (GANDALPH) apparatus, connected to a CERN-ISOLDE experimental beamline. (128)I was produced in fission induced by 1.4 GeV protons striking a thorium/tantalum foil target and then extracted as singly charged negative ions at a beam energy of 20 keV. Laser photodetachment of th…
Laser photodetachment mass spectrometry
We demonstrate that the technique of laser photodetachment spectroscopy on atomic negative ions can be used as a sensitivity enhancement tool in mass spectrometry, useful for suppressing both isotopic as well as molecular isobaric interferences. In the experiment a beam of negative ions and a laser beam are merged in a collinear geometry and the wavelength of the laser is tuned across the photodetachment threshold region. Due to the large differential Doppler shifts associated with the fast moving ions of different masses, it is possible to selectively detach ions of certain isotopes while leaving others unaffected. By choosing co-propagating laser and ion beams, the heavier isotopes of an …
PLZT ceramics Fabry-Perot interferometers for visible and mid-infrared lasers
Abstract Phenomena characteristic for thermo-optically and electro-optically tunable PLZT ceramics Fabry-Perot interferometers are analyzed, when these devices are used with Ar+ ion and solid state erbium lasers. A new original technique of Q-switching of mid-infrared solid state pulse lasers using a Fabry-Perot output coupler with integrated Q-switch function is reported.
A graphene-based neutral particle detector
A neutral particle detector is presented, in which the traditionally used target material, indium tin oxide (ITO), is replaced by graphene. The graphene-based detector enables collinear photodetachment measurements at a significantly shorter wavelength of light down to 230 nm compared to ITO-based detectors, which are limited at 335 nm. Moreover, the background signal from the photoelectric effect is drastically reduced when using graphene. The graphene based detector, reaching 1.7 eV further into the UV energy range, allows increased possibilities for photodetachment studies of negatively charged atoms, molecules, and clusters.A neutral particle detector is presented, in which the traditio…
Experimental investigation of electron impact onSi2−
A merged beams technique has been used to investigate collisions between electrons and $\text{Si}_{2}{}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ions over a relative kinetic energy range of 0--210 eV. Absolute cross sections for pure electron detachment, detachment plus dissociation, and dissociation involving atomic and ionic products were measured. The dominant process over the energy range studied is pure electron detachment. A search for a resonance associated with a ${\text{Si}}_{2}$ dianion was made but none was observed.