0000000000594134
AUTHOR
Pierre Bricault
Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source - Off-line tests at TRIUMF
Resonance ionization laser ion sources (RILIS) developed into the most powerful tool for radioactive ion beam production at on-line facilities, as they provide a selective ionization process with inherent suppression of unwanted isobaric contaminations at the ion source. While typical tunable laser systems for these applications are based on dye lasers, we developed an all solid state laser system which consists of three pulsed titanium:sapphire (ti:sa) lasers pumped by a single high repetition rate Nd:YAG laser. Each ti:sa laser provides up to 2.5 W average output power at 12 kHz repetition rate in the wavelength region of 700-950 nm with optional frequency doubling in BBO crystals. This l…
First laser ions at an off-line mass separator of the ISAC facility at TRIUMF
For efficient and in particular for selective production of radioactive ion beams at on-line mass separator facilities the technique of resonance ionization laser ion sources (RILIS) has become the most powerful tool. In facilities like ISOLDE at CERN they nowadays represent the most commonly used type of ion source for rare short-lived isotopes, delivering highest suppression of isobaric contaminations. For a first off-line demonstration preparing the development and installation of such a laser ion source at the new ISAC facility at TRIUMF in Vancouver (Canada), an all solid state laser system developed at the University of Mainz (Germany), was transferred and tested there at an off-line …
High-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy: a versatile tool for nuclear β-decay studies at TRIUMF-ISAC
High-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy is essential to fully exploit the unique, high-quality beams available at the next generation of radioactive ion beam facilities such as the TRIUMF isotope separator and accelerator (ISAC). The 8π spectrometer, which consists of 20 Compton-suppressed HPGe detectors, has recently been reconfigured for a vigorous research programme in weak interaction and nuclear structure physics. With the addition of a variety of ancillary detectors it has become the world's most powerful device dedicated to β-decay studies. This paper provides a brief overview of the apparatus and highlights from recent experiments.
Isotope-shift measurements of stable and short-lived lithium isotopes for nuclear-charge-radii determination
Changes in the mean-square nuclear charge radii along the lithium isotopic chain were determined using a combination of precise isotope shift measurements and theoretical atomic structure calculations. Nuclear charge radii of light elements are of high interest due to the appearance of the nuclear halo phenomenon in this region of the nuclear chart. During the past years we have developed a new laser spectroscopic approach to determine the charge radii of lithium isotopes which combines high sensitivity, speed, and accuracy to measure the extremely small field shift of an 8 ms lifetime isotope with production rates on the order of only 10,000 atoms/s. The method was applied to all bound iso…