0000000001294556
AUTHOR
M. Dworschak
Towards high-accuracy mass spectrometry of highly charged short-lived ions at ISOLTRAP
Dedicated to H.-J. Kluge on the occasion of his 65th birthday anniversary - Jürgen Kluge Special Issue; Multiply charged ions of stable xenon isotopes from a plasma ion source have been mass-selected by the on-line mass separator ISOLDE/CERN and delivered to the triple-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. The doubly charged ions that survived the charge-exchange processes during bunching and ion preparation were transferred to a precision Penning trap for mass determination. Mass values were obtained for the isotopes with mass numbers A=126,129,130,136. They are consistent with previous results except for the case of $^{126}Xe$ where a significant deviation from the literature value was found. …
Cadmium mass measurements between the neutron shell closures at N=50 and 82
International audience; The mass values of the neutron-deficient cadmium isotopes 99−109Cd and of the neutronrich isotopes 114,120,122−124,126,128Cd have been measured using ISOLTRAP. The behavior of the separation energies of the cadmium isotopes from N = 50 to 82 is discussed.
Quantum-state-selective decay spectroscopy of Ra213
An experimental scheme combining the mass resolving power of a Penning trap with contemporary decay spectroscopy has been established at GSI Darmstadt. The Universal Linear Accelerator (UNILAC) at GSI Darmstadt provided a $^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ beam impinging on a thin $^{170}\mathrm{Er}$ target foil. Subsequent to velocity filtering of reaction products in the Separator for Heavy Ion reaction Products (SHIP), the nuclear ground state of the $5n$ evaporation channel $^{213}\mathrm{Ra}$ was mass-selected in SHIPTRAP, and the $^{213}\mathrm{Ra}$ ions were finally transferred into an array of silicon strip detectors surrounded by large composite germanium detectors. Based on comprehensive geant4 s…
Towards a magnetic field stabilization at ISOLTRAP for high-accuracy mass measurements on exotic nuclides
Abstract The field stability of a mass spectrometer plays a crucial role in the accuracy of mass measurements. In the case of mass determination of short-lived nuclides with a Penning trap, major causes of fluctuations are temperature variations in the vicinity of the trap and pressure changes in the liquid helium cryostat of the superconducting magnet. Thus systems for the temperature and pressure stabilization of the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at the ISOLDE facility at CERN have been installed. A reduction of the temperature and pressure fluctuations by at least an order of magnitude down to Δ T ≈ ± 5 mK and Δ p ≈ ± 5 Pa has been achieved, which corresponds to a relative magn…
Mass measurements beyond the major r-process waiting point $^{80}$Zn
High-precision mass measurements on neutron-rich zinc isotopes 71m,72-81Zn have been performed with the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. For the first time the mass of 81Zn has been experimentally determined. This makes 80Zn the first of the few major waiting points along the path of the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process where neutron separation energy and neutron capture Q-value are determined experimentally. As a consequence, the astrophysical conditions required for this waiting point and its associated abundance signatures to occur in r-process models can now be mapped precisely. The measurements also confirm the robustness of the N = 50 shell closure for Z = 30 farthe…
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…
Approaching theN=82shell closure with mass measurements of Ag and Cd isotopes
Mass measurements of neutron-rich Cd and Ag isotopes were performed with the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. The masses of ${}^{112,114\ensuremath{-}124}$Ag and ${}^{114,120,122\ensuremath{-}124,126,128}$Cd, determined with relative uncertainties between $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ and $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$, resulted in significant corrections and improvements of the mass surface. In particular, the mass of $^{124}\mathrm{Ag}$ was previously unknown. In addition, other masses that had to be inferred from $Q$ values of nuclear decays and reactions have now been measured directly. The analysis includes various mass…
Investigation of the magnetic field fluctuation and implementation of a temperature and pressure stabilization at SHIPTRAP
Abstract Penning traps have proven to be powerful tools for the determination of nuclear masses with high accuracy. A crucial parameter for precision mass measurements in Penning traps is the accurate determination of the magnetic-field strength. However, the magnetic field of a superconducting magnet is not constant in time, but changes due to intrinsic effects of the solenoid and external perturbations. These effects have been investigated for SHIPTRAP. Furthermore, a stabilization of the temperature in the magnet bore as well as of the pressure in the liquid-helium cryostat has been implemented. Thus, the magnetic-field related uncertainties have been reduced to 7(6)×10−11/h.
Restoration of theN=82Shell Gap from Direct Mass Measurements ofSn132,134
A high-precision direct Penning trap mass measurement has revealed a 0.5-MeV deviation of the binding energy of (134)Sn from the currently accepted value. The corrected mass assignment of this neutron-rich nuclide restores the neutron-shell gap at N=82, previously considered to be a case of "shell quenching." In fact, the new shell gap value for the short-lived (132)Sn is larger than that of the doubly magic (48)Ca which is stable. The N=82 shell gap has considerable impact on fission recycling during the r process. More generally, the new finding has important consequences for microscopic mean-field theories which systematically deviate from the measured binding energies of closed-shell nu…
Damping effects in Penning trap mass spectrometry
Abstract Collisions of ions with residual gas atoms in a Penning trap can have a strong influence on the trajectories of the ions, depending on the atom species and the gas pressure. We report on investigations of damping effects in time-of-flight ion-cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry with the Penning trap mass spectrometers ISOLTRAP at ISOLDE/CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) and SHIPTRAP at GSI (Darmstadt, Germany). The work focuses on the interconversion of the magnetron and cyclotron motional modes, in particular the modification of the resonance profiles for quadrupolar excitation due to the damping effect of the residual gas. Extensive experiments have been performed with standard and Ra…
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.
Magnetic field stabilization for high-accuracy mass measurements on exotic nuclides
The magnetic-field stability of a mass spectrometer plays a crucial role in precision mass measurements. In the case of mass determination of short-lived nuclides with a Penning trap, major causes of instabilities are temperature fluctuations in the vicinity of the trap and pressure fluctuations in the liquid helium cryostat of the superconducting magnet. Thus systems for the temperature and pressure stabilization of the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at the ISOLDE facility at CERN have been installed. A reduction of the fluctuations by at least one order of magnitude downto dT=+/-5mK and dp=+/-50mtorr has been achieved, which corresponds to a relative frequency change of 2.7x10^{-…
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 $N=152$.
Quantum-state-selective decay spectroscopy of 213Ra
An experimental scheme combining the mass resolving power of a Penning trap with contemporary decay spectroscopy has been established at GSI Darmstadt. The Universal Linear Accelerator (UNILAC) at GSI Darmstadt provided a 48Ca beam impinging on a thin 170Er target foil. Subsequent to velocity filtering of reaction products in the Separator for Heavy Ion reaction Products (SHIP), the nuclear ground state of the 5n evaporation channel 213Ra was mass-selected in SHIPTRAP, and the 213Ra ions were finally transferred into an array of silicon strip detectors surrounded by large composite germanium detectors. Based on comprehensive geant4 simulations and supported by theoretical calculations, the …