6533b826fe1ef96bd1284964
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Observation of Collisional De-Excitation Phenomena in Plutonium
Andrea RaggioIlkka PohjalainenIain D. Mooresubject
Nuclear and High Energy Physicscollisional de-excitationplutoniumactinidetutkimuslaitteetgas cellCondensed Matter PhysicsAtomic and Molecular Physics and Opticsgas-cellcollisional de-excitation; actinide elements; resonance laser ionization; gas cellresonance laser ionizationlaser resonance ionizationPhysics::Atomic Physicsactinide elementsNuclear Experimentydinfysiikkadescription
Proceedings for the "virtual Workshop on the Atomic Structure of Actinides & Related Topics" conference submitted to the special issue of Atoms "Atomic Structure of the Heaviest Elements". A program of research towards the high-resolution optical spectroscopy of actinide elements for the study of fundamental nuclear structure is currently ongoing at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyväskylä. One aspect of this work is the development of a gas-cell-based actinide laser ion source using filament-based dispensers of long-lived actinide isotopes. We have observed prominent phenomena in the resonant laser ionization process specific to the gaseous environment of the gas cell. The development and investigation of a laser ionization scheme for plutonium atoms is reported, focusing on the effects arising from the collision-induced phenomena of plutonium atoms in helium gas. The gas-cell environment was observed to greatly reduce the sensitivity of an efficient plutonium ionization scheme developed in vacuum. This indicates competition between resonant laser excitation and collisional de-excitation by the gas atoms, which is likely being enhanced by the very high atomic level density within actinide elements.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-04-20 | Atoms |