用于核物理研究的精密激光谱技术的发展和展望

原子核基本性质（自旋、质量、寿命、磁矩、电四极矩和电荷半径等）与原子核的内在结构密切相关,是检验和发展原子核理论模型的重要依据。实验上可以通过多学科交叉的精密激光谱技术测量原子核外电子的超精细结构和同位素移位,来模型独立地提取原子核的自旋、磁矩、电四极矩和电荷均方根半径等多个核物理参量。这些基本性质的系统测量可以用于探索不稳定原子核中展现出来的新奇的物理现象与规律。近年来,为了测量产额更低的丰中子核的基本性质,激光谱技术不断更新和发展,以实现高分辨、高效率测量。本文详细介绍了激光谱测量的基本原理以及由此发展起来的用于不稳定原子核结构研究的各类互补的激光谱学技术,如共线激光谱（高分辨率低灵敏度）、在源激光谱（高灵敏度低分辨率）、共线共振电离谱（高分辨率高灵敏度）等激光谱技术,以及在不同核区的测量优势和局限。最后结合我国正在发展和规划中的新一代放射性核束装置,讨论精密激光谱技术在国内的发展以及在核物理研究中的应用。     

Laser assisted decay spectroscopy at the CRIS beam line at ISOLDE

The new collinear resonant ionization spectroscopy (Cris) experiment at Isolde, Cern uses laser radiation to stepwise excite and ionize an atomic beam for the purpose of ultra-sensitive detection of rare isotopes and hyperfine structure measurements. The technique also offers the ability to purify an ion beam that is contaminated with radioactive isobars, including the ground state of an isotope from its isomer. A new program using the Cris technique to select only nuclear isomeric states for decay spectroscopy commenced last year. The isomeric ion beam is selected using a resonance within its hyperfine structure and subsequently deflected to a decay spectroscopy station. This consists of a rotating wheel implantation system for alpha and beta decay spectroscopy, and up to three high purity germanium detectors for gamma-ray detection. This paper gives an introduction to the Cris technique, the current status of the laser assisted decay spectroscopy set-up and recent results from the experiment in November 2011.     

Laser spectroscopy of radioactive isotopes

The experimental conditions for laser spectroscopy of shortlived isotopes is discussed with respect to nuclear lifetime, reaction rates and samples preparation by on-line mass-separator techniques. The method of collinear laser spectroscopy is presented with results for medium mass elements near the closed proton shell Z=50. An interpretation of magnetic moments, spectroscopic quadrupole moments and the parabolic shape of the isotope shift in this region of nuclei is given.     

激光共振电离过程中铅同位素歧视效应研究

以速率方程为基础,通过数值模拟方法,对Pb的激光共振电离通道：“6s26p2 3P0—6s26p7s 3P0₁—电离”的激光诱导同位素歧视效应进行了研究,以探讨减小激光诱导歧视效应,准确测定Pb同位素比值的有效途径。通过考虑激光线型、原子吸收谱线线型、同位素位移及同位素超精细结构等因素的影响,对速率方程进行近似。在近似的速率方程基础上,以“1+1”激光共振电离过程为例,进而探讨激光峰值功率密度、带宽和中心波长对Pb的同位素歧视效应的影响。研究结果表明,利用最佳波长法,可基本消除同位素歧视效应的影响;提高激发光光强可使Pb同位素饱和电离,从而消除同位素歧视效应的影响;采用宽带激光激发,可减小同位素歧视效应的影响。     

Accurate isotope shift measurements on short lived neon isotopes

We report on fast beam collinear laser spectroscopy measurements that demonstrate the feasibility of accurate isotope shift measurements for short lived Ne isotopes including the proton halo candidate ¹⁷Ne. Ultra high sensitivity is achieved by the application of an efficient resonance detection scheme based on collisional ionization and ion counting via the β decay. A direct measurement of the kinetic energy of the atomic Ne beam provides the required high accuracy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Technical developments for an upgrade of the LEBIT Penning trap mass spectrometry facility for rare isotopes

The LEBIT (Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap) facility is the only Penning trap mass spectrometry (PTMS) facility to utilize rare isotopes produced via fast-beam fragmentation. This technique allows access to practically all elements lighter than uranium, and in particular enables the production of isotopes that are not available or that are difficult to obtain at isotope separation on-line facilities. The preparation of the high-energy rare-isotope beam produced by projectile fragmentation for low-energy PTMS experiments is achieved by gas stopping to slow down and thermalize the fast-beam ions, along with an rf quadrupole cooler and buncher and rf quadrupole ion guides to deliver the beam to the Penning trap. During its first phase of operation LEBIT has been very successful, and new developments are now underway to access rare isotopes even farther from stability, which requires dealing with extremely short lifetimes and low production rates. These developments aim at increasing delivery efficiency, minimizing delivery and measurement time, and maximizing use of available beam time. They include an upgrade to the gas-stopping station, active magnetic field monitoring and stabilization by employing a miniature Penning trap as a magnetometer, the use of stored waveform inverse Fourier transform (SWIFT) to most effectively remove unwanted ions, and charge breeding.     

RILIS applications at CERN/ISOLDE

Since 2011 the ISOLDE Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) has comprised a dual system of three dye and three Ti:sapphire lasers capable of gap-free wavelength tuning from 210 to 950 nm. Temporal synchronization of the lasers has enabled several operating modes to be established which make optimal use of the complementary characteristics of each laser type. This flexibility of the system has presented several opportunities for additional atomic spectroscopy studies and ionization scheme development, whilst also enabling an increase in the number of operating hours for standard ion beam production. The extended capabilities of the dual-RILIS system are exemplified by the recent operational highlights. These include on-line ionization scheme development (At, Ca), measurements of ionization energies (At, Po), in-source resonance ionization spectroscopy of exotic isotopes (At, Au, Po), and the provision of a fibre-coupled narrow-linewidth Ti:sapphire beam for the on-line commissioning of the CRIS experiment (Fr).     

Temperature and concentration gradient effects on heat and mass transfer in micropolar fluid

We report here the development of collinear laser spectroscopy (CLS) system at VECC for the study of hyperfine spectrum and isotopic shift of stable and unstable isotopes. The facility is first of its kind in the country allowing measurement of hyperfine splitting of atomic levels using atomic beams. The CLS system is installed downstream of the focal plane of the existing isotope separator online (ISOL) facility at VECC and is recently commissioned by successfully resolving the fluorescence spectrum of the hyperfine levels in \(^{85,87}\)Rb. The atomic beams of Rb were produced by charge exchange of 8 keV Rb ion beam which were produced, extracted and transported to the charge exchange cell using the ion sources, extractor and the beam-line magnets of the ISOL facility. The laser propagating opposite to the ion / atom beam direction was allowed to interact with the atom beam and fluorescence spectrum was recorded. The experimental set-up and the experiment conducted are reported in detail. The measures needed to be carried out for improving the sensitivity to a level necessary for studying short-lived exotic nuclei have also been discussed.     

Polarization spectroscopy of the ~1S_0-~3P_1 transition of mercury isotopes at 253.7 nm

We experimentally observe polarization spectroscopy(PS) of the 1S0-3P1 transition of mercury atom gases at 253.7 nm. The PS signal can be observed in all six richly abundant isotopes and the PS signal of six transitions for laser cooling are all clear and of a dispersive line shape. The optimized pump power and probe power are found for the PS of 202 Hg. We find the linearly polarized component in the pump beam will distort the original PS signal due to the use of linear PS. Consequently, the purity of the pump beam is crucial to laser frequency stabilization by PS.     

New laser setup at the IRIS facility. Magnetic moments and mean squared charge radii of neutron deficient Tl isotopes

A new laser installation for the resonance ionization spectroscopy in a laser ion source and for rare isotope production has been put into operation at the IRIS mass-separator, working on-line with the 1 GeV proton beam of the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute synchrocyclotron. Isotope shift and hyperfine splitting of 276.9 nm atomic transition in the long chain of Tl isotopes and isomers have been measured. New data on the magnetic moments and changes in mean squared charge radius for ^{183,184,185,185m,186m2,195m,197m}Tl have been obtained.     

High-resolution diode-laser spectroscopy on a fast beam of metastable atoms for detecting very rare krypton isotopes

A fast krypton ion beam with an energy of 10 keV is transferred through a mass filter and neutralized in a Rb- (or Cs-) vapour charge exchange cell. The emerging beam of metastable Kr atoms of a selected Kr isotope is collinearly irradiated with a tunable cw GaAlAs diode laser at 811 nm. The spectrum of the 1s ₅–2p ₉ transition covers 10 GHz and consists of one line each for the five stable isotopes of Kr with even mass number and 15 hyperfine structure lines of⁸³Kr. The individual lines are recorded by detecting the fluorescence signal perpendicular to the beams. Photons are guided to the PM tube by diffuse reflection from a high reflectance thermoplastics light collector. Up to 20 photons per atom are emitted by cycling between the two states during the flight time of 1.2 µs through the detector. The observed absorption linewidth of 100 MHz is a combination of laser linewidth and energy uncertainty in the fast atomic beam. In order to achieve maximum isotope selectivity the beam energy has to be adjusted in such a way that the Doppler shifted lines of all isotopes form an optimum pattern for detecting the very rare isotopes⁸¹Kr and⁸⁵Kr in natural environmental samples.     

Detection of hydrogen isotope atoms by mass spectrometry combined with resonant ionization

We examined the application of mass spectrometric methods using resonant ionization by a tunable laser and proposed its use for analyzing hydrogen isotopes. We conducted resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) to detect gas-phase hydrogen isotope atoms. The ionization efficiency was increased by more than 1000 times that obtained with conventional methods using nonresonant ionization. Resonant laser ablation mass spectrometry (RLAMS) was applied for deuterium detection in solid samples. A graphite substrate implanted with deuterium was used for ordinary laser ablation mass spectrometry (LAMS) and RLAMS. The deuterium signal was observed very clearly by RLAMS, in contrast to LAMS. Mass spectrometry combined with resonance ionization was very useful for hydrogen isotope detection, because components with equal mass numbers were resolved and the method demonstrated higher ionization efficiency. Received: 4 November 1998 / Revised version: 12 January 1999 / Published online: 7 April 1999     

铬原子束横向一维激光冷却的蒙特卡罗方法仿真

激光汇聚铬原子沉积实验中,铬原子束准直度的好坏非常重要.利用蒙特卡罗随机思想选取原子轨迹初始条件,将⁵²Cr原子以外的其他同位素、纵向速度分布和横向发散角等因素综合考虑,对铬原子束横向一维激光冷却进行了优化分析.经过与均匀取值法比较,这种方法能够更好地体现原子运动的不确定性,挑选出不参与冷却过程的同位素,使考察界面内原子束的横向位置分布更好的符合实验结果.结果显示,冷却过程中其他同位素的存在使原子束横向位置分布的中心最大值减小9.3%,半高宽增加11%,并且增加轮廓曲线的基底. 关键词： 激光冷却 蒙特卡罗方法 铬原子束     

Spectroscopy of francium in a magneto optical trap

The francium atom offers an excellent laboratory to study electron-nucleus interactions. As the heaviest alkali, its atomic properties can be calculated with high precision, and laser trapping methods now allow precision optical spectroscopy of many isotopes. Recent measurements of the 7P_1/2 hyperfine structure, when coupled with previous measurements of the ground state hyperfine structure reveal a hyperfine anomaly. The change in anomaly between an even-N isotope and an odd-N isotope is sensitive to the radial distribution of the neutron magnetization. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Laser spectroscopy of the bismuth isotopes

Isotope shifts and hyperfine structures of the bismuth isotope chain have been studied on the 306.7 nm line in off-line measurements using gas cell laser spectroscopy and atomic beam spectroscopy. The changes in nuclear mean square charge radii and the nuclear magnetic and spectroscopic quadrupole moments have been deduced. The neutron-rich isotopes are the first isotones of Pb to be measured immediately above the N=126 shell closure. A remarkable correspondence between the nuclear charge radii of the Bi and Pb isotope chains is demonstrated by a King Plot analysis. The relationship between nuclear shapes and the charge radii can be understood in the framework of the spherical shell model using few-nucleon configurations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

金属稳定同位素标记生物分析进展

细胞和组织的很多特定功能都由其在不同的生理条件下的生物分子含量决定,极少数分子的改变就有可能影响细胞生物功能并触发疾病生理过程,因此高灵敏的生物分子检测技术在疾病机理研究和疾病早期诊断方面具有重要作用。金属稳定同位素和放射同位素化学性质相近,借鉴放射同位素标记的成功经验,通过金属稳定同位素标记多组分生物分子,可以用原子质谱高灵敏地检测多组分生物分子。作为灵敏准确的金属元素检测工具,电感耦合等离子体质谱检出限低、基体效应低、线性范围广、同位素谱线分辨率高,因此适用于金属元素标记生物分子检测。金属稳定同位素标记已经被广泛应用到蛋白质、核酸、酶活性、生物小分子、甚至单个细胞的检测中,取得了一些可喜的进展,并展现了广阔未来应用前景。金属稳定同位素标记生物分析方法有三个特性：高灵敏度-大多数金属的稳定同位素有较高的标记灵敏度,并且可以通过纳米材料标记等方法实现信号放大;多组分同时分析-质谱仪同位素谱线高分辨率提供了多组分分析能力;高准确度-同位素稀释法提供了可溯源到SI国际单位制的高准确度检测结果。为了更好的推动相关研究,简要介绍金属稳定同位素标记生物分析的进展,主要内容包括以下几个部分：金属稳定同位素检测工具-无机质谱、金属稳定同位素标记高灵敏度分析、金属稳定同位素标记多组分同时分析、金属稳定同位素标记高准确度分析、金属稳定同位素标记单细胞分析的进展。     

Isotope shifts and hyperfine structure in the transitions in calcium II

The isotope shift and hyperfine structure in the three - transitions in Ca II have been studied by fast ion beam collinear laser spectroscopy for all stable Ca isotopes. The metastable 3d states were populated within the surface ionization source of a mass separator with a probability of about 0.1%. After resonant excitation to the 4p levels with diode laser light around 850 nm the uv photons from the transitions to the ground state were used for detection. Hyperfine structure parameters A and B for the odd isotope ⁴³Ca, as evaluated from the splittings observed, agree well with theoretical predictions from relativistic many-body perturbation theory. Field shift constants and specific mass shift constants were extracted from the measured isotope shifts and are discussed in comparison with expectation values from theory. Received: 19 September 1997 / Revised: 5 December 1997 / Accepted: 27 January 1998     

Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts of neutron-rich138–146Cs

The 6s²S_1/2-7_p ²P_3/2 transition in^138–142Cs (λ=455.5 nm) has been investigated by high-resolution collinear laser spectroscopy in a fast atomic beam. The isotopes are obtained by on-line mass separation of fission products. Nuclear moments and changes of mean-square charge radii are derived from hyperfine structure and isotope shift.     

Search for anomalously heavy isotopes of helium in the earth's atmosphere

Our knowledge of the possible existence in nature of stable exotic particles depends solely upon experimental observation. Using a sensitive laser spectroscopy technique, we searched for a doubly charged particle accompanied by two electrons as an anomalously heavy isotope of helium in the Earth's atmosphere. The concentration of noble-gas-like atoms in the atmosphere and the subsequent very large depletion of the light (3,4)He isotopes allow stringent upper limits to be set on the abundance: 10(-12)-10(-17) per atom in the solar system over the mass range of 20-10 000 amu.     

Laser Spectroscopy Programme at the Jyväskylä IGISOL

This paper reviews the status of the laser spectroscopy programme being carried using the IGISOL mass separator in combination with an RFQ cooler-buncher. Measurements in the zirconium region are being extended to the yttrium isotopes. Two K = 8 isomers, in ¹⁷⁶Yb and ¹³⁰Ba, are found to have smaller mean square charge radii than their ground states, and the isotope shifts of stable osmium isotopes have been measured off-line by collinear laser spectroscopy.