0000000000657257
AUTHOR
Jens Ketelaer
Measurement and simulation of the pressure ratio between the two traps of double Penning trap mass spectrometers
Penning traps are ideal tools to perform high-precision mass measurements. For this purpose the cyclotron frequency of the stored charged particles is measured. In case of on-line mass measurements of short-lived nuclides produced at radioactive beam facilities the ions get in general first prepared and cooled by buffer-gas collisions in a preparation trap to reduce their motional amplitudes and are then transported to a precision trap for the cyclotron frequency determination. In modern Penning trap mass spectrometers both traps are placed in the homogeneous region of one superconducting magnet to optimize the transport efficiency. Because the gas pressure inside the precision trap has to …
TRIGA-SPEC: A setup for mass spectrometry and laser spectroscopy at the research reactor TRIGA Mainz
The research reactor TRIGA Mainz is an ideal facility to provide neutron-rich nuclides with production rates sufficiently large for mass spectrometric and laser spectroscopic studies. Within the TRIGA-SPEC project, a Penning trap as well as a beam line for collinear laser spectroscopy are being installed. Several new developments will ensure high sensitivity of the trap setup enabling mass measurements even on a single ion. Besides neutron-rich fission products produced in the reactor, also heavy nuclides such as 235-U or 252-Cf can be investigated for the first time with an off-line ion source. The data provided by the mass measurements will be of interest for astrophysical calculations on…
Direct mass measurements above uranium bridge the gap to the island of stability
The mass of an atom incorporates all its constituents and their interactions. The difference between the mass of an atom and the sum of its building blocks (the binding energy) is a manifestation of Einstein's famous relation E = mc(2). The binding energy determines the energy available for nuclear reactions and decays (and thus the creation of elements by stellar nucleosynthesis), and holds the key to the fundamental question of how heavy the elements can be. Superheavy elements have been observed in challenging production experiments, but our present knowledge of the binding energy of these nuclides is based only on the detection of their decay products. The reconstruction from extended d…
Position-sensitive ion detection in precision Penning trap mass spectrometry
A commercial, position-sensitive ion detector was used for the first time for the time-of-flight ion-cyclotron resonance detection technique in Penning trap mass spectrometry. In this work, the characteristics of the detector and its implementation in a Penning trap mass spectrometer will be presented. In addition, simulations and experimental studies concerning the observation of ions ejected from a Penning trap are described. This will allow for a precise monitoring of the state of ion motion in the trap.
Mass Measurements of Very Neutron-Deficient Mo and Tc Isotopes and Their Impact on rp Process Nucleosynthesis
The masses of ten proton-rich nuclides, including the N=Z+1 nuclides 85-Mo and 87-Tc, were measured with the Penning trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP. Compared to the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2003 a systematic shift of the mass surface by up to 1.6 MeV is observed causing significant abundance changes of the ashes of astrophysical X-ray bursts. Surprisingly low alpha-separation energies for neutron-deficient Mo and Tc are found, making the formation of a ZrNb cycle in the rp process possible. Such a cycle would impose an upper temperature limit for the synthesis of elements beyond Nb in the rp process.
Mass measurements on stable nuclides in the rare-earth region with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer RIGA-TRAP
The masses of 15 stable nuclides in the rare-earth region have been measured with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP. This is the first series of absolute mass measurements linking these nuclides to the atomic-mass standard $^{12}\mathrm{C}$. Previously, nuclear reaction studies almost exclusively determined the literature values of these masses in the Atomic-Mass Evaluation. The TRIGA-TRAP results show deviations on the order of 3--4 standard deviations from the latest published values of the Atomic-Mass Evaluation 2003 for some cases. However, the binding-energy differences that are important for nuclear structure studies have been confirmed and improved. The new masses are dis…
Direct Mapping of Nuclear Shell Effects in the Heaviest Elements
Quantum-mechanical shell effects are expected to strongly enhance nuclear binding on an "island of stability" of superheavy elements. The predicted center at proton number $Z=114,120$, or $126$ and neutron number $N=184$ has been substantiated by the recent synthesis of new elements up to $Z=118$. However the location of the center and the extension of the island of stability remain vague. High-precision mass spectrometry allows the direct measurement of nuclear binding energies and thus the determination of the strength of shell effects. Here, we present such measurements for nobelium and lawrencium isotopes, which also pin down the deformed shell gap at $N=152$.