The Inchworm as a precision translator in a high magnetic field and UHV environment

Abstract A new set-up has been designed and tested for on-line, high-precision mass measurements of short-lived radioactive isotopes via a determination of the ion cyclotron resonance. Ions delivered by the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE at CERN/Geneva are stored in a Penning trap installed in a superconducting solenoid. Due to severe space limitations in the bore of the solenoid, it is impossible to use conventional mechanical feedthroughs for the necessary manipulations inside the uhv chamber. Instead, a number of Inchworms, a high-precision positioning device based on the piezo-electric effect are employed. This publication reports on the first application of this device in a uhv envir…

Nuclear shape transition in neutron-deficient gold isotopes

4 pages, 1 table, 4 figures.

Resonance ionization mass spectroscopy for nuclear research and trace analysis

Resonance ionization mass spectroscopy (RIMS) has been applied, firstly, to a study of the nuclear properties of short-lived Au isotopes at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE at CERN and, secondly, to a trace-analysis experiment of Pu.

Optical measurements of ground-state properties of short-lived nuclei in resonance cells

Hyperfine structure and isotope shift of radioactive Hg, Au and Cd isotopes have been determined by optical spectroscopy. In all cases the atoms were confined in a resonance cell. The various variants of the cell technique and alternative methods as the resonance ionization spectroscopy related to the investigation of short-lived nuclei are described, and some results are discussed.

First absolute mass measurements of short-lived isotopes

Absolute mass measurements of short-lived isotopes have been performed at the on-line mass separator ISOLDE at CERN by determining the cyclotron frequencies of ions confined in a Penning trap. The cyclotron frequencies for77,78,85,86,88Rb and88Sr ions could be determined with a resolving power of 3×105 and an accuracy of better than 10−6, which corresponds to 100 keV for massA=100. The shortest-lived isotope under investigation was77Rb with a half-life of 3.7 min. The resonances obtained for the isobars88Rb and88Sr were clearly resolved.

The isotope shift of the radioactive Cd-isotopes (102?A?120) determined by on-line laserspectroscopy

Sudden change in the nuclear charge distribution of very light gold isotopes

4 pages, 3 tables, 2 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 21.10.Ft, 21.10.Ky, 27.70.+q.