Penning-trap-assisted study of 115Ru beta decay

The beta decay of ¹¹⁵Ru has been studied by means of Penning-trap-assisted beta and gamma spectroscopy at the IGISOL facility. The level scheme of ¹¹⁵Rh has been substantially extended and compared with the level systematics of lighter rhodium isotopes. Tentative candidates for three states of the deformed K = 1/2 band have been suggested. The beta-strength distribution of the beta decay of ¹¹⁵Ru differs from the beta decays of ^{111, 113, 113m}Ru isotopes due to non-observation of the 3-quasiparticle states in ¹¹⁵Rh. The decay properties of ¹¹⁵Ru indicate a spin-parity of (3/2⁺ for its beta-decaying ground state. In addition, possible Nilsson states as well as the shape and spin transitions in odd neutron-rich ruthenium isotopes are discussed.     

Precision mass measurements of neutron-rich Y, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, and Pd isotopes

Direct mass measurements with typical uncertainties of 1-10keV have been performed for the first time for ten neutron-rich isotopes ^{102, 103}Y , ¹⁰⁸Nb , ¹¹¹Mo , ^{113, 114}Tc , ¹¹⁶Ru , ¹¹⁹Rh , and ^{121, 122}Pd . The obtained mass data compared with the 2003 atomic-mass evaluation shows systematic overestimation of binding energies far from stability. The relationship between two-neutron separation energies, nuclear structure and shape changes has been investigated by comparing the experimental data with a theoretical calculation based on the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation using modern energy density functionals.     

Measurement of two solvation regimes in water-ethanol mixtures using x-ray compton scattering

Water-ethanol mixtures exhibit interesting anomalies in their macroscopic properties. Despite a lot of research, the origin of the anomalies and the microscopic structure itself is still far from completely known. We have utilized the synchrotron x-ray Compton scattering technique to elucidate the structure of aqueous ethanol from a new experimental perspective. The technique is uniquely sensitive to the local molecular geometries at the angstrom and subangstrom scales. The experiments reveal two distinct mixing regimes in terms of geometry: the dilute 5 mol % and the concentrated >15 mol % regimes. By comparing with pure liquids, the former regime is characterized by an intramolecular and the latter by an intermolecular change. The findings bring new light to evaluating the hypothesis of formation of clathratelike structures at the dilute concentrations.     

Expedient deuterolabeling of polyphenols in ionic liquids-DCl/D2O under microwave irradiation

Postsynthetic regioselective aromatic ring H/D exchanges in polyphenolic compounds are rapidly performed in high yields and isotopic purities in ionic liquid-DCl/D2O under microwave irradiation. Other C-H bonds, including benzylic and lactone alpha-carbonyl sites, are not affected.     

Decay study of neutron-rich zirconium isotopes employing a Penning trap as a spectroscopy tool

A new technique to produce isobarically pure ion beams for decay spectroscopy by using a gas-filled Penning trap was commissioned at the ion guide isotope separator on-line facility, IGISOL. β-decays of neutron-rich ¹⁰⁰Zr, ¹⁰²Zr and ¹⁰⁴Zr isotopes were studied with this technique. In addition, the values of ^100,102,104Zr β-decays were determined from the direct mass measurements of zirconium and niobium isotopes performed with a high-precision Penning trap. The mass of ¹⁰⁴Nb was directly measured for the first time and the obtained mass excess value for the longer-living (1⁺) state is -71823±10 keV. For the ground states of ¹⁰⁰Nb and ¹⁰²Nb the obtained mass excess values were -79802±20 keV and -76309±10 keV, respectively. The observed distribution of the β strength supports a prolate deformation assignment for ^100,102,104Zr isotopes.     

Penning-trap mass measurements on <Superscript>92, 94-98, 100</Superscript>Mo with JYFLTRAP

Penning-trap measurements on stable ^{92, 94-98, 100}Mo isotopes have been performed with relative accuracy of \(\ensuremath 1\cdot 10^{-8}\) with the JYFLTRAP Penning-trap mass spectrometer by using ⁸⁵Rb as a reference. The Mo isotopes have been found to be about 3keV more bound than given in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2003 (AME03). The results confirm that the discrepancy between the ISOLTRAP and JYFLTRAP data for ^101-105Cd isotopes was due to an erroneous value in the AME03 for ⁹⁶Mo used as a reference at JYFLTRAP. The measured frequency ratios of Mo isotopes have been used to update mass-excess values of 30 neutron-deficient nuclides measured at JYFLTRAP.     

Polarised bidirectional reflectance factor measurements from soil, stones, and snow

The bidirectional reflectance factor and degree of linear polarisation of selected snow, soil, and gravel types have been measured using Finnish geodetic institute field goniospectropolariphotometer (FIGIFIGO). It was observed that with all measured samples the degree of linear polarisation is weakest 0–30 backwards from nadir, turning 1–5% negative in the backward direction, and growing larger (5–50%) in the forward and Brewster directions. Polarisation was found to be inversely but non-linearly proportional to reflectance. In addition, a wavelength-dependent trend was found to exist in some data, but in general, the wavelength dependence was smooth. Dry old snow polarises clearly more than melting snow or new snow. White gravel polarises somewhat similarly to snow in visible region, and black gravel resembles snow in infrared.The authors conclude that polarisation observations may be useful in land surface remote sensing, but that only far-forward angles (60–70) contain a strong enough signal for easy interpretation. The polarisation spectrum brings little additional information to reflection spectrum, but in conditions where the reflectance spectrum cannot be accurately normalised or incident irradiation is not known, polarisation spectrum could still be usable. The directional signal is strong and may yield refractive index or microstructure, and must be understood in any application. Polarisation near nadir is low for all known samples, and can thus be safely ignored with most non-polarised imaging applications. However, for accurate atmospheric polarimetry, e.g. by polarisation and directionality of the earth's reflectances (POLDER) or aerosol polarimetry sensor (APS) sensors, it is recommended to take into account land surface polarisation.     

Reactor decay heat in 239Pu: solving the γ discrepancy in the 4-3000-s cooling period

The β feeding probability of (102,104,105,106,107)Tc, 105Mo, and 101Nb nuclei, which are important contributors to the decay heat in nuclear reactors, has been measured using the total absorption technique. We have coupled for the first time a total absorption spectrometer to a Penning trap in order to obtain sources of very high isobaric purity. Our results solve a significant part of a long-standing discrepancy in the γ component of the decay heat for 239Pu in the 4-3000 s range.