The mass of 22Mg

Mass measurements with a relative precision of better than 1.5 x 10(-8) were performed on 22Mg and its reaction partners 21Na and 22Na with the ISOLTRAP Penning trap mass spectrometer at CERN, yielding the mass excesses D(22Mg)=-399.92(27) keV, D(21Na)=-2184.71(21) keV, and D(22Na)=-5181.56(16) keV. The importance of these results is twofold. First, a comparative half-life (Ft value) has been obtained for the superallowed beta decay of 22Mg to further test the conserved-vector-current hypothesis. Second, the resonance energy for the 21Na proton capture reaction has been independently determined, allowing direct comparisons of observable gamma radiation in nova explosions with the yield expected from models.     

Mass Measurements on Short-Lived Nuclides with ISOLTRAP

Penning trap mass spectrometry has reached a state that allows its application to very short-lived nuclides available from various sources of radioactive beams. Mass values with outstanding accuracy are achieved even far from stability. This paper illustrates the state of the art by summarizing the status of the ISOLTRAP experiment at ISOLDE/CERN. Furthermore, results of mass measurements on unstable rare earth isotopes will be given. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Status of the EBIT in the ReA3 reaccelerator at NSCL

At the NSCL a reaccelerator with design end energy of 3 MeV/u for ²³⁸U, called ReA3, is approaching the end of construction. ReA3 will be coupled to a gas stopper at the NSCL fragmentation facility to provide rare-isotope beams of nuclides not available at ISOL facilities in this energy range. An Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) will be used to provide highly charged ions at an energy of about 12 keV/u. The charge breeder is followed by a room-temperature radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) and a series of superconducting linear accelerator structures. Initial commissioning results from the EBIT and its charge-over-mass separator are presented.     

Exploring new mass regions with the ISOLTRAP spectrometer

First direct mass measurements on rare earth isotopes around ¹⁴⁶Gd have been performed with the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at ISOLDE/CERN. More than 40 isotopes of the elements Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Dy and Ho have been measured with an accuracy of typically 1 × 10^-7. In the case of ¹⁴¹Sm isomeric and ground state (ΔE = 175 keV) were resolved. Since isobaric contaminations are present in the ISOLDE beam, these measurements on rare earth isotopes became only possible after the installation of a new cooler trap which acts an isobar separator. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Discovery of a nuclear isomer in 65Fe with penning trap mass spectrometry

A new long-lived isomeric state in (65)Fe has been discovered with Penning trap mass spectrometry and high-precision mass measurements of the neutron-rich isotopes (63-65)Fe and (64-66)Co have been performed with the Low-Energy Beam and Ion Trap Facility at the NSCL. For the new isomer in (65)Fe an excitation energy of 402(5) keV has been determined from the measured mass difference between the isomeric and ground states. The mass uncertainties of all isotopes have been reduced by a factor of 10-100 compared to previous results. In the case of (64)Co the previous mass value was found to deviate by about 5 standard deviations from the new measurement.     

Accurate masses of unstable rare-earth isotopes by ISOLTRAP

Direct mass measurements of neutron-deficient rare-earth isotopes in the vicinity of ¹⁴⁶Gd were performed with the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at ISOLDE/CERN. This paper reports on the measurement of more than 40 isotopes of the elements praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, dysprosium and holmium, that have been measured with a typical accuracy of m 14 keV. An atomic mass evaluation has been performed taking into account other experimental mass values via a least-squares adjustment. The results of the adjustment are discussed. Received: 18 April 2000 / Accepted: 12 July 2000     

The REX-ISOLDE project

The Radioactive Beam Experiment REX-ISOLDE [1–3] is a pilot experiment at ISOLDE (CERN) testing the new concept of post acceleration of radioactive ion beams by using charge breeding of the ions in a high charge state ion source and the efficient acceleration of the highly charged ions in a short LINAC using modern ion accelerator structures. In order to prepare the ions for the experiments singly charged radioactive ions from the on-line mass separator ISOLDE will be cooled and bunched in a Penning trap, charge bred in an electron beam ion source (EBIS) and finally accelerated in the LINAC. The LINAC consists of a radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator, which accelerates the ions up to 0.3 MeV/u, an interdigital H-type (IH) structure with a final energy between 1.1 and 1.2 MeV/u and three seven gap resonators, which allow the variation of the final energy. With an energy of the radioactive beams between 0.8 MeV/u and 2.2 MeV/u a wide range of experiments in the field of nuclear spectroscopy, astrophysics and solid state physics will be addressed by REX-ISOLDE. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Precision Penning trap mass measurements of rare isotopes produced by projectile fragmentation

The low-energy beam and ion trap facility LEBIT at NSCL/MSU is at present the only facility where precision experiments are performed with stopped rare isotope beams produced by fast-beam fragmentation. LEBIT combines high-pressure-gas stopping with advanced ion manipulation techniques to provide brilliant low-energy beams. So far these beams have mainly been used for mass measurements on short-lived rare isotopes with a 9.4T Penning trap mass spectrometer. Recent examples include ^70m Br , located at the proton dripline, ³²Si and the iron isotopes ^63-65Fe . While the measurement of ³²Si helps to solve a long-standing dispute over the validity of the isobaric multiplet mass equation (IMME) for the A = 32 , T = 2 multiplet, the mass measurements of ^65m,g Fe marked the first time a nuclear isomeric state has been discovered by Penning trap mass spectrometry.