0000000001080987
AUTHOR
Karl Johnston
showing 16 related works from this author
Production, isolation and characterization of radiochemically pure 163Ho samples for the ECHo-project
2018
Abstract Several experiments on the study of the electron neutrino mass are based on high-statistics measurements of the energy spectrum following electron capture of the radionuclide 163Ho. They rely on the availability of large, radiochemically pure samples of 163Ho. Here, we describe the production, separation, characterization, and sample production within the Electron Capture in Holmium-163 (ECHo) project. 163Ho has been produced by thermal neutron activation of enriched, prepurified 162Er targets in the high flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France, in irradiations lasting up to 54 days. Irradiated targets were chemically processed by means of extraction chromatogr…
Neodymium-140 DOTA-LM3: Evaluation of an In Vivo Generator for PET with a Non-Internalizing Vector
2017
140Nd (t1/2 = 3.4 days), owing to its short-lived positron emitting daughter 140Pr (t1/2 = 3.4 min), has promise as an in vivo generator for positron emission tomography (PET). However, the electron capture decay of 140Nd is chemically disruptive to macrocycle-based radiolabeling, meaning that an in vivo redistribution of the daughter 140Pr is expected before positron emission. The purpose of this study was to determine how the delayed positron from the de-labeled 140Pr affects preclinical imaging with 140Nd. To explore the effect, 140Nd was produced at CERN-ISOLDE, reacted with the somatostatin analogue, DOTA-LM3 (1,4,7,10- tetraazacyclododecane, 1,4,7- tri acetic acid, 10- acetamide N - p…
Billion-Fold Enhancement in Sensitivity of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for Magnesium Ions in Solution
2014
Beta-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is highly sensitive compared to conventional NMR spectroscopy, and may be applied for several elements across the periodic table. Beta-NMR has previously been successfully applied in the fields of nuclear and solid-state physics. In this work, beta-NMR is applied, for the first time, to record an NMR spectrum for a species in solution. 31Mg b-NMR spectra are measured for as few as 10^7 magnesium ions in ionic liquid (EMIM-Ac) within minutes, as a prototypical test case. Resonances are observed at 3882.9 and 3887.2 kHz in an external field of 0.3 T. The key achievement of the current work is to demonstrate that beta-NMR is applicable for the…
Resonant laser ionization of polonium at rilis-isolde for the study of ground- and isomer-state properties
2008
Three new ionization schemes for polonium have been tested with the resonant ionization laser ion source (RILIS) during the on-line production of 196Po in a UCx target at ISOLDE. The saturation of the atomic transitions has been observed and the yields of the isotope chain 193–198,200,202,204Po have been measured. This development provides the necessary groundwork for performing in-source resonant ionization spectroscopy on the neutron-deficient polonium isotopes (Z = 84). ispartof: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research B vol:266 issue:19 pages:4403-4406 ispartof: location:FRANCE, Deauville status: published
High-voltage monitoring with a solenoid retarding spectrometer at the KATRIN experiment
2014
The KATRIN experiment will measure the absolute mass scale of neutrinos with a sensitivity of m(ν) = 200meV/c(2) by means of an electrostatic spectrometer set close to the tritium β-decay endpoint at 18.6keV. Fluctuations of the energy scale must be under control within ±60mV (±3ppm). Since a precise voltage measurement in the range of tens of kV is on the edge of current technology, a nuclear standard will be deployed additionally. Parallel to the main spectrometer the same retarding potential will be applied to the monitor spectrometer to measure 17.8-keV K-conversion electrons of (83m)Kr. This article describes the setup of the monitor spectrometer and presents its first measurement resu…
Measurement of the Be7(n,p) cross section at thermal energy
2019
The Be7(n,p) cross section was measured with an ion-implanted Be7 target at a thermal neutron beam of the research reactor LVR-15 in Řež. The cross section to the ground state of Li7 is σ(n,p0)=43800±1400b and the cross section to the first excited state of Li7 is σ(n,p1)=520±260b.
Ultra-stable implanted 83Rb/83mKr electron sources for the energy scale monitoring in the KATRIN experiment
2012
The KATRIN experiment aims at the direct model-independent determination of the average electron neutrino mass via the measurement of the endpoint region of the tritium beta decay spectrum. The electron spectrometer of the MAC-E filter type is used, requiring very high stability of the electric filtering potential. This work proves the feasibility of implanted 83Rb/83mKr calibration electron sources which will be utilised in the additional monitor spectrometer sharing the high voltage with the main spectrometer of KATRIN. The source employs conversion electrons of 83mKr which is continuously generated by 83Rb. The K-32 conversion line (kinetic energy of 17.8 keV, natural line width of 2.7 e…
Laser photodetachment of radioactive $^{128}$I$^−$
2017
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…
Enhanced Quadrupole and Octupole Strength in Doubly Magic Sn132
2018
The first 2+ and 3- states of the doubly magic nucleus Sn132 are populated via safe Coulomb excitation employing the recently commissioned HIE-ISOLDE accelerator at CERN in conjunction with the highly efficient MINIBALL array. The Sn132 ions are accelerated to an energy of 5.49 MeV/nucleon and impinged on a Pb206 target. Deexciting γ rays from the low-lying excited states of the target and the projectile are recorded in coincidence with scattered particles. The reduced transition strengths are determined for the transitions 0g.s.+→21+, 0g.s.+→31-, and 21+→31- in Sn132. The results on these states provide crucial information on cross-shell configurations which are determined within large-sca…
The upgraded ISOLDE yield database – A new tool to predict beam intensities
2020
At the CERN-ISOLDE facility a variety of radioactive ion beams are available to users of the facility. The number of extractable isotopes estimated from yield database data exceeds 1000 and is still increasing. Due to high demand and scarcity of available beam time, precise experiment planning is required. The yield database stores information about radioactive beam yields and the combination of target material and ion source needed to extract a certain beam along with their respective operating conditions. It allows to investigate the feasibility of an experiment and the estimation of required beamtime. With the increasing demand for ever more exotic beams, needs arise to extend the functi…
Evolution of Octupole Deformation in Radium Nuclei from Coulomb Excitation of Radioactive Ra222 and Ra228 Beams
2020
There is sparse direct experimental evidence that atomic nuclei can exhibit stable "pear" shapes arising from strong octupole correlations. In order to investigate the nature of octupole collectivity in radium isotopes, electric octupole (E3) matrix elements have been determined for transitions in ^{222,228}Ra nuclei using the method of sub-barrier, multistep Coulomb excitation. Beams of the radioactive radium isotopes were provided by the HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The observed pattern of E3 matrix elements for different nuclear transitions is explained by describing ^{222}Ra as pear shaped with stable octupole deformation, while ^{228}Ra behaves like an octupole vibrator.
β decay of In133 : γ emission from neutron-unbound states in Sn133
2019
Excited states in Sn-133 were investigated through the beta decay of In-133 at the ISOLDE facility. The ISOLDE Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) provided isomer-selective ionization for In-133, allowing us to study separately, and in detail, the beta-decay branch of In-133 J(pi)= (9/2(+)) ground state and its J(pi) = (1/2(-)) isomer.Thanks to the large spin difference of the two beta-decaying states of In-133, it is possible to investigate separately the lower and higher spin states in the daughter, Sn-133, and thus to probe independently different single-particle and single-hole levels. We report here new gamma transitions observed in the decay of In-133, including those assign…
The observation of vibrating pear-shapes in radon nuclei
2019
6 pags., 4 fig.s, 1 tab. -- Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 4.0
Coulomb excitation of pear-shaped nuclei
2019
There is a large body of evidence that atomic nuclei can undergo octupole distortion and assume the shape of a pear. This phenomenon is important for measurements of electric-dipole moments of atoms, which would indicate CP violation and hence probe physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Isotopes of both radon and radium have been identified as candidates for such measurements. Here, we have observed the low-lying quantum states in 224Rn and 226Rn by accelerating beams of these radioactive nuclei. We show that radon isotopes undergo octupole vibrations but do not possess static pear-shapes in their ground states. We conclude that radon atoms provide less favourable condition…
The electron affinity of astatine
2020
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…
First operational experience of HIE-ISOLDE
2016
The High Intensity and Energy ISOLDE project (HIE-ISOLDE)* is a major upgrade of the ISOLDE facility at CERN. The energy range of the post-accelerator will be extended from 2.85 MeV/u to 9.3 MeV/u for beams with A/q = 4.5 (and to 14.3 MeV/u for A/q = 2.5) once all the cryomodules of the superconducting accelerator are in place. The project has been divided into different phases, the first of which (phase 1a) finished in October 2015 after the hardware and beam commissioning were completed**. The physics campaign followed with the delivery of both radioactive and stable beams to two different experimental stations. The characteristics of the beams (energies, intensities, time structure and b…