Construction and characterization of a Paul trap for laser spectroscopy of exotic radionuclides in an MR-ToF device

by Carina Kanitz (Friedrich Alexander Univ. Erlangen (DE))

Tuesday 23 Nov 2021, 16:15 → 17:15 Europe/Zurich

CERN

The Multi-Ion Reflection Apparatus for Collinear Laser Spectroscopy (MIRACLS) seeks to improve the sensitivity of Collinear Laser Spectroscopy (CLS) by confining ions of short-lived radionuclides in a Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight (MR-ToF) device. The MIRACLS experiment is currently under construction at CERN. The MIRACLS technique requires a small energy spread of the injected ion bunch for high-resolution laser spectroscopy as well as a small time spread for the operation of the MR-ToF device. As these requirements are not necessarily fulfilled by the ISOLDE beam, a linear, square wave-driven Paul trap acting as radiofrequency cooler and buncher is built.

In this talk, simulation studies of the optimal operation parameters of the MIRACLS Paul trap are presented together with the resulting performance. This simulation study comprises the injection and trapping efficiency as well as the cooling process by buffer gas cooling. The ion bunching process was systematically studied in order to obtain optimal beam properties.

The progress in assembling the Paul trap and associated infrastructure is presented, along with the planned setup of a test beamline. Exploiting the latter, the Paul trap can be characterized before connecting it to the ISOLDE beamline.