Speaker
Dr
Christophor Kozhuharov
(GSI)
Description
At GSI Darmstadt, we have studied the decay of highly-charged heavy
ions, stored and cooled in the experimental storage ring, ESR, by
means of time-resolved Schottky-noise mass spectroscopy. The Fast
Fourier Transform, FFT, of the Schottky noise is a non-destructive,
non-instantaneous detection method, sensitive to a single heavy ion
circulating in the ring. We have focused our interest on the
two-body orbital electron capture decay of hydrogen-like ions, and
have developed a method that allows us to identify unambiguously the
decay channel and the decay time by observing both the parent and
the daughter ions. We have investigated the decay of small numbers
of particles stored and cooled in the ring, and we have observed
deviations from the expected exponential decay of 140 Pr and 142 Pm
ions [1]. In this contribution, I will concentrate on the
motivation, on the method, and on the experimental findings of these
studies.
