Proposed by Heinz-Juergen Kluge in 1980 and installed in 1986, ISOLTRAP was the world's first Penning trap connected to a radioactive beam facility. Since then, ISOLTRAP has pioneered most of the techniques now associated with on-line ion trapping and manipulation for precision measurements of atomic masses. After an introduction of physics motivation, a brief history and description of the...
Recent commissioning of the Cooler Storage Ring at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou enabled us to conduct high-precision mass measurements at the Institute of Modern Physics in Lanzhou (IMP). In the past few years, mass measurements were performed using the CSRe-based isochronous mass spectrometry employing the fragmentation of the energetic beams of 36Ar, 58Ni, 78Kr, 86Kr, and 112Sn...
The relativistic nuclear field theory (RNFT) developed throughout the last decade will be featured as an approach to the nuclear many-body problem, which is based on meson-nucleon Lagrangian and connects consistently the high-energy scale of heavy mesons, the medium-energy range of the pion, and the low-energy domain of emergent collective vibrations (phonons). Mesons and phonons build up the...
The idea that “new-is-small” is a paradigm propelling industries and research: new materials for new applications and new technologies. Precise and efficient characterization techniques are, therefore, required to make the “new” and the “small”, understandable, applicable, and reliable. Within this concept, Time Differential Perturbed Angular Correlations, TDPAC, appears as one of the...
This presentation will focus on the experiments carried out during 2017 with ISOLTRAP, the versatile mass spectrometer situated at ISOLDE/CERN. Highlights of this year's campaign were the precision mass measurements of neutron-rich krypton ($^{98,99}$Kr), argon ($^{48}$Ar) and cadmium ($^{127,129,131,132}$Cd) isotopes addressing, respectively, the onset of deformation in the $A \approx 100$...
(On behalf of the EURICA collaboration)
The structure of nuclei in the vicinity of doubly magic $^{100}$Sn offer insight to the interplay between the seniority scheme in closed-shell nuclei and isoscalar proton-neutron interactions which are prevalent in $N \sim Z$ nuclei. Below $^{100}$Sn, information on the excited states of $N \sim Z$ nuclei is accessible by isomeric decays and...
The vibrational first $2^+$ and $3^-$ states of the doubly-magic nucleus $^{132}$Sn were excited via safe Coulomb excitation (CE) employing the recently commissioned HIE-ISOLDE accelerator at CERN in conjunction with the highly efficient MINIBALL array. The $^{132}$Sn ions were accelerated to an energy of 5.5 MeV/nucleon and impinged on a $^{206}$Pb target. Dexciting $\gamma$ rays from the...
With a proton hole in the Z = 50 shell closure, the indium isotopic chain (Z = 49) offers a
compelling scenario to explore the evolution of nuclear-structure properties in the
neighbourhood of the doubly-magic isotopes 100Sn (Z, N = 50) and 132Sn (N = 82).
This contribution will present recent measurements of the hyperfine spectra of the neutronrich
indium isotopes 113-131In using the...
The LINAG superconducting linear accelerator of the SPIRAL2 project in GANIL (Caen) will produce stable heavy ion beams with very high currents. Their energy ranges from from 2 to 14MeV/u. These stable ion beams will enable us to observe rare events in the fields of nuclear physics, like very heavy and superheavy elements studies, neutron deficient nuclei at the proton drip line, as well as of...
With the ground breaking in July 2017, the construction of FAIR, the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, has officially started. Besides the adaption of the existing SIS18 synchrotron for FAIR operation, the ground works for the new SIS100 synchrotron tunnel is presently pursued. FAIR will host four scientific pillars: APPA, CBM, NUSTAR and PANDA. NUSTAR comprises several experiments...
The HELIOS spectrometer was developed to study of light-ion transfer reactions in inverse kinematics, where outgoing ions are transported through a solenoidal field removing the effects of kinematic compression. It operates at ATLAS at Argonne National Laboratory where it can be used with stable beams, light radioactive ion beams produced by the in-flight technique, and fission-fragment beams...
Terbium is a unique element, as it provides a quadruplet of radionuclides suited for diagnostics and therapy in nuclear medicine [1]. Much success has been gained from the PSI-ISOLDE collaboration, with the collection and purification of 149Tb (α-emitter, T1/2 = 4.1 h – for potential therapy), used for preclinical therapy studies [2] and PET imaging [3], and 152Tb (β+-emitter, T1/2 = 17.5 h –...
As in the previous years, the target and ion source development group (TISD) has been working to push the limits of beam intensity and purity of available beams, and to develop new beams of elements, which are not yet available at any other ISOL facility. Important progress has been made on the LIEBE project, which exploits the forced circulation of a hot Pb-Bi eutectic melt. Here, the...
The Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) at ISOLDE is the most frequently used ion source, providing 60% of the ion beams in 2017, and more than 85% in 2016. The ionization mechanism, based on stepwise resonance excitation of an outer electron of the atom, is element selective. For certain elements even isomer-selective ionization can be achieved, enabling the delivery of beams with...
The CERN-MEDICIS laboratory is located in an extension of the CERN-ISOLDE radioactive ion beam facility in Geneva, Switzerland. ISOLDE is able to provide more than 1000 different isotopes by irradiating a thick target with a 1.4 GeV proton beam from the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster. Since more than 90 % of the proton beam passes through the ISOLDE targets, the MEDICIS targets will be placed...
For many years the RFQcb (Radio-Frequency Quadrupole cooler buncher) has been a vital part of ISOLDE experiments and it has improved the beam optics of the HRS line significantly downstream. However, there is very little time and infrastructure available to test and quantify improvements made to the RFQcb's structure, tuning and bunching methods. The Offline 2 separator was proposed to allow...
The Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) apparatus at ISOLDE-CERN [1] provides a powerful tool to perform highly-efficient and precise hyperfine structure measurements on isotopes produced at rates lower than 100 ions/s [2]. Such measurements allow the extraction of observables that are key for our understanding of the nuclear many-body problem: nuclear ground-state spins,...
HIE-ISOLDE experiments have been focused on two experimental setups in 2017, with the Miniball HPGe array [2] taking most of the beam time alongside experiments at the third beam line. The ISOLDE Solenoidal Spectrometer (ISS) [3] is currently being commissioned on the second beam line with the aim of performing few-nucleon transfer reactions in the magnetic field of a former MRI magnet. As...
Shell evolution in the vicinity of $^{68}$Ni has recently attracted many theoretical and experimental investigations. By now it has been clearly established that the presumed subshell closure at N=40 is not very pronounced. While the intruder character of the $1g_{9/2}$ and $2d_{5/2}$ neutron orbital induces collectivity by pair excitations from the $fp$ shell into the $g_{9/2}$ orbital, the...
Nickel isotopes $^{58-68,70}$Ni were measured using collinear laser spectroscopy at the COLLAPS setup at CERN-ISOLDE. Nickel has magic proton number 28, the first magic number that is caused by the spin-orbit interaction and the isotope chain is state-of-the-art in nuclear structure research. One of these is the sub-shell closure at N=40, which has been intensively studied by various...
This work pertains to determining the spectroscopic quadrupole moment for the first 2+ state in 66Ge using “safe” Coulomb excitation measurements. Motivation to study 66Ge arises from the anomalous rotational behaviour of the high-lying first 2+ state observed in even-even isotopes in the A ~ 70 region [1]. Low-lying 0+ excited states have been suggested for even-even neutron-deficient nuclei...
Recently, the LIGO Virgo Collaboration achieved the first detections of a gravitational waves. A century after the fundamental predictions of Einstein, we report the first direct observations of binary black hole systems merging to form single black holes. The detected waveforms match the predictions of general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of...
The level scheme of 213Fr was investigated for the first time through γ-ray spectroscopy at ISOLDE, CERN. An A=232 molecular beam of 213Ra+19F was sent to the ISOLDE Decay Station setup, where γ-rays and charged particles were detected using HPGe clover detectors and DSSSDs, respectively. Low-spin excited states in the semi-magic 213Fr (N=126) were populated in the EC/β+ decay of the 1/2-...
Study the east region around the doubly magic $^{208}$Pb, represents an ideal testing ground to understand the effects related to the effective three-body forces, i.e., if the large calculations are feasible and the seniority scheme provides useful guidance. However, this region of the Segrè chart has been traditionally difficult to access experimentally due to its neutron richness and low...
$^{208}$Pb is the heaviest stable doubly-magic nucleus and has been studied in great detail. Its first excited state occurs at 2.6 MeV and corresponds to an octupole vibration, resulting from the collective behaviour of a number of E3 ($\Delta l = \Delta j = 3$) particle excitations across the closed shell. This octupole transition has been observed in several other nuclei around $^{208}$Pb,...
MARA is a new in-flight recoil separator mainly for studies of the exotic isotopes close to the N~Z line and close to the proton-drip line produced in fusion evaporation reactions. MARA consists of a quadrupole triplet followed by an electrostatic deflector and a magnetic dipole. It has two main functions: separate a primary beam from products and give additional mass over charge selectivity...
Thermal neutron capture gamma-ray spectroscopy and prompt gamma-ray
spectroscopy of fission fragments are powerful tools to obtain detailed nuclear
structure information for nuclides close to stability and medium mass neutron-
rich isotopes. This nuclear structure information can be used for the test of
nuclear models, as well as for the extraction of quantities important for nuclear...
The opportunities and features of the analytical techniques such as Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) or Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) available at the 4MV Dynamitron Tandem accelerator in Bochum will be presented and illustrated with examples from the ongoing research programs. In particular diffusion studies in geological systems will be discussed in more detail. Since such...
The increase of energy of the ISOLDE radioactive beams made possible through the HIE-ISOLDE project has opened new possibilities for reactions studies with exotic beams. A particular challenge is presented by the light nuclei where unbound final states play an important role and the role of the continuum is by now known to be important. Theoretical work on the reaction mechanisms involved...
The High Intensity and Energy ISOLDE project (HIE-ISOLDE) is a major upgrade of the ISOLDE post-accelerator at CERN. Phase 2A of the project was completed in June 2017 when an additional cryomodule and the third High Energy Beam Transfer line (HEBT) were installed and commissioned. The 2017 Physics campaign started immediately after. Multiple stable and Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs) were...
The cryogenic system for the project phases 1 & 2 of HIE-ISOLDE is based on a refurbished helium cryo-plant previously used to cool the ALEPH magnet during the operation of the LEP accelerator from 1989 to 2000. The helium refrigerator is connected to a new cryogenic distribution line, supplying a 2000-liter storage dewar and six interconnecting valve boxes (i.e jumper boxes). Since its...
The test result of the newly developed seamless cavity is compared with the series cavities already installed and operated in the cryomodules.
Slow and uniform cool down has been preferred by the series cavities; thus optimized cool-down procedure has achieved performance better than the nominal design.
The off-line test in a dedicated cryostat showed that the seamless cavity did not depend on...
A ten-fold increase in the bunch spacing of post-accelerated radioactive ion beams has been requested by several research groups at ISOLDE, CERN in order for experiments to use time-of-flight particle identification and background suppression techniques. It is proposed to bunch externally into the existing REX-RFQ at a frequency of 10.128 MHz using a multi-harmonic buncher to produce the...
Defects in diamond have great potential for use as quantum sensors and qubits. The negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV–) center in diamond is established as a leading platform in solid state quantum applications, with potential technologies in sensing, computation and communication enabled by its long spin-coherence time and optical spin polarization. However, NV’s poor photonic properties...
During 2017 we focused on investigating the lattice location of 27Mg as a detailed function of implantation temperature, implanted fluence, and fluence rate in different doping types of GaN: undoped GaN, as well as Si-doped n-type, Mg-doped p-type, and Mg-doped as grown.
The amphoteric nature of Mg, i.e. the simultaneous occupation of substitutional Ga and interstitial sites previously...
The unique method of 57Fe emission Mössbauer spectroscopy (eMS), as performed at the large-scale facility of ISOLDE at CERN, was employed to reveal, at the most atomic-scale, important aspects governing the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition in GeTe thin films, of importance for phase change memory (PCM) applications. By following dilute implantation of 57Mn (T½ = 1.5 min) decaying to...
Within the Standard model, the CKM matrix is predicted to be unitary. Testing this unitarity is therefore important to put limits on Beyond Standard Model physics contributions. The dominant matrix element for this test, Vud, is traditionally obtained from the corrected ft-values of superallowed pure Fermi beta transitions [1]. Another sensitive way to address Vud is through measuring the...
$^{31}Ar$ isotope is one of the most exotic β-delayed particle precursors, near the proton drip-line, with high Q-value and low proton separation energy. Due to these two factors, many channels are opened and β-delayed protons are emitted in the decay of this nucleus (one-proton, two-proton and even three-proton emission) [1].
Taking advance of the ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS) [2], the decay...
Extending the work started with LOI144, we present preliminary perturbed angular correlations results of vanadium oxides. The goal of this work is to understand, along with first-principles calculations, the effects of doping on the local structure in the dopant neighboring and its consequence on the electric and magnetic properties of the host oxides. Vanadium oxides are particularly...
We present the details and status of a new experiment commissioned at Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel for a high precision study of the Weak Interaction via the beta-neutrino correlation in radioactive decay of short lived 6He. The facility consists of a 14 MeV d + t neutron generator to produce atomic 6He via the 9Be(n,alpha)6He reaction. The Be target was in the form of 40 porous BeO...
Introduction:
Interest in the element terbium (Tb) for medical application has grown recently [1]. Four Tb isotopes have been identified with the potential to provide unique theragnostic treatment strategies which combine cancer therapy with diagnostic imaging. The isotopes $^{155}$Tb and $^{152}$Tb can provide SPECT and PET imaging respectively [2], whilst $^{161}$Tb can be used for...
Alpha-decay measurement is an important source of information on nuclear structure of exotic isotopes, especially when coincident $\gamma$ rays are registered as well. Respective fine-structure $\alpha$ decays can be disentangled from complicated $\alpha$-decay spectrum and excited states in daughter nucleus can be established. This is particularly valuable for investigation of odd-odd...
My poster will summarise the experimental methods, simulations and results for the coulomb excitation of the singly magic two-proton-hole nucleus 206Hg. Doing so will provide information on both quadrupole and octupole collectivity of this nucleus and as a result provide an insight into its shape.
A particular interest in contemporary nuclear structure research is the impact of the local shell structure on the proton-neutron mixing in low-energy quadrupole states at the onset of collectivity near neutron shell closures. In near-spherical nuclei, the two simplest quadrupole-collective excitations can be understood as a mixture of the collective $2^+$ proton and $2^+$ neutron excitations....
The hyperfine structure and isotope shift of the neutron-rich tin isotopes have been measured across the N=82 shell closure for the very first time. The work has been carried out at ISOLDE, CERN by high-resolution collinear laser spectroscopy. The charge radii and electromagnetic moments of ground and isomeric states along 107-134Sn show regularities which can be explained within the...
Today ion sources based on laser resonance ionization are well-established core techniques at the worldwide leading radioactive ion beam facilities such as CERN-ISOLDE or ISAC-TRIUMF. Ensuring both, highly efficient and element-selective ion beam production to the users, these devices in addition allow for direct laser spectroscopic investigations on exotic nuclei far off stability with lowest...
Collinear laser spectroscopy (CLS) is a powerful tool, with a long and successful history at COLLAPS/ISOLDE, to access nuclear ground state properties such as spin, charge radius, and electromagnetic moments with high precision and accuracy [1]. Conventional CLS is based on the optical detection of fluorescence photons from laser-excited ions or atoms. It is limited to radioactive ion beams...
Most commonly, ISOLDE uses positively charged ion beams produced by a variety of ion sources such as the positive surface ion source, the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) or the Forced Electron Beam Induced Arc Discharge (FEBIAD) ion source. In recent years, the availability of negative ion beams at ISOLDE was re-established and the development program for negative ion sources was...
Recent preclinical experiments using Tb isotopes produced at ISOLDE enabled significant progress in the field, including the first demonstration of PET imaging with an alpha emitter [1] and the demonstration of 152Tb as theranostic match for the clinically used 177Lu therapeutic isotope [2]. These successes enormously raised the interest of the medical community and a first clinical...
A 2016 publication in Nature [1] presented a proof of principle experiment for a new method of medical imaging. The new technique uses many elements of traditional Magnetic Resonant Imaging (MRI), but replaces the measurement of RF signals from 1H nuclei with the detection of anisotropic gamma-emission from a hyperpolarized radioactive tracer, in this case 131mXe.
Since gamma-radiation is far...
The experimental nuclear physics group of the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon has recently joined the consortium of groups traditionally working at ISOLDE in fundamental nuclear physics. Nowadays, integrated at the LIP laboratory, our group has increased its presence and participation at various levels at the ISOLDE laboratory and is looking forward to the promising future of...
For three decades, the ISOLTRAP experiment at ISOLDE/CERN has performed high-precision mass measurements of short-lived nuclides using the time-of-flight ion-cyclotron-resonance (ToF-ICR) detection method, which is reaching its limits for accessible half-lives and relative uncertainties. With the new phase-imaging ion-cyclotron-resonance (PI-ICR) [S. Eliseev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110,...
β-NMR is powerful tool which takes advantage of the anisotropic nature of beta decay to measure a range of nuclear properties. Nuclei are first polarised, then implanted into a crystal or sample of interest from which beta decay intensities are measured in opposing directions. The nuclear structure information is extracted from the excitation radio-frequency which resonantly destroys the...
The new WISArD (Weak Interaction Studies with 32Argon Decay) experiment reutilises the former WITCH superconducting magnet at ISOLDE to measure the beta-neutrino angular correlation coefficient. 32Ar decays by beta-delayed proton emission. The protons emitted from the recoiling 32Cl daughter nuclei experience thus a Doppler effect, which shifts their energy. The proton and positron detection...
