Laser spectroscopy for nuclear structure physics

Atomic physics techniques for the determination of ground-state properties of radioactive isotopes are very sensitive and provide accurate masses, binding energies, Q-values, charge radii, spins and electromagnetic moments. Many fields in nuclear physics benefit from these highly accurate numbers. They give insight into details of the nuclear structure for a better understanding of the underlying effective interactions, provide important input for studies of fundamental symmetries in physics, and help to understand the nucleosynthesis processes that are responsible for the observed chemical abundances in the Universe. Penning-trap and storage-ring mass spectrometry as well as laser spectroscopy of radioactive nuclei have now been used for a long time but significant progress has been achieved in these fields within the last decade. The basic principles of laser spectroscopic investigations, Penning-trap and storage-ring mass measurements of short-lived nuclei are summarized and selected physics results are discussed.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-8949/2013/T152/014017/pdf

Precision Atomic Physics Techniques for Nuclear Physics with Radioactive Beams

The ISOLDE facility has undergone numerous changes over the last 17 years driven by both the physics and technical community with a common goal to improve on beam variety, beam quality and safety. Improvements have been made in civil engineering and operational equipment while continuing developments aim to ensure operations following a potential increase in primary beam intensity and energy. This paper outlines the principal technical changes incurred at ISOLDE by building on a similar publication of the facility upgrades by Kugler (2000 Hyperfine Interact. 129 23–42). It also provides an insight into future perspectives through a brief summary issues addressed in the HIE-ISOLDE design study Catherall et al (2013 Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 317 204–207).

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6471/aa7eba/pdf

The ISOLDE facility

In the last decade there has been a renaissance in laser spectroscopy at on-line facilities. This has included the introduction of ion traps and the use of laser ion sources to study the hyperfine structure of exotic nuclei far from stability and produce selective enhancement of isomeric beams. In-source spectroscopy has allowed the study of rare isotopes with yields as low as 0.1 atoms per second. In the case of high-resolution spectroscopy, cooling and trapping the ions has dramatically improved the sensitivity. Some elements that were previously inaccessible to laser spectroscopy are now available for study through the technique of in-trap optical pumping. This paper reviews the field of laser spectroscopy at on-line facilities, with an emphasis on new techniques. A summary of experimental data is presented.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0954-3899/37/11/113101/pdf

Progress in laser spectroscopy at radioactive ion beam facilities

We propose to install a storage ring at an ISOL-type radioactive beam facility for the first time. Specifically, we intend to setup the heavy-ion, low-energy ring TSR at the HIE-ISOLDE facility in CERN, Geneva. Such a facility will provide a capability for experiments with stored secondary beams that is unique in the world. The envisaged physics programme is rich and varied, spanning from investigations of nuclear ground-state properties and reaction studies of astrophysical relevance, to investigations with highly-charged ions and pure isomeric beams. The TSR might also be employed for removal of isobaric contaminants from stored ion beams and for systematic studies within the neutrino beam programme. In addition to experiments performed using beams recirculating within the ring, cooled beams can also be extracted and exploited by external spectrometers for high-precision measurements. The existing TSR, which is presently in operation at the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, is well-suited and can be employed for this purpose. The physics cases as well as technical details of the existing ring facility and of the beam and infrastructure requirements at HIE-ISOLDE are discussed in the present technical design report.

/pdf/storage-ring-at-hie-isolde-technical-design-report-tf4uoofbsw.pdf

Storage ring at HIE-ISOLDE Technical design report

A gas-filled segmented linear Paul trap has been installed at the focal plane of the high-resolution separator (HRS) at CERN-ISOLDE. As well as providing beams with a reduced transverse emittance, this device is also able to accumulate the ions and release the sample in bunches with a well-defined time structure. This has recently permitted collinear laser spectroscopy with stable and radioactive bunched beams to be demonstrated at ISOLDE. Surface-ionized 39, 44, 46K and 85Rb beams were accelerated to 30keV, mass separated and injected into the trap for subsequent extraction and delivery to the laser setup. The ions were neutralized in a charge exchange cell and excited with a co-propagating laser. The small ion beam emittance allowed focussing in the ion-laser overlap region, which is essential to achieve the best experimental sensitivity. Fluorescent photons were detected by a photomultiplier tube as a frequency scan was taken. A gate (typically 7-12μs wide) was set on the photomultiplier signal to accept the fluorescent photons within the time window defined by the bunch. Thus, using accumulation times of 100ms, the dominant contribution to background due to continuous laser scattering could be reduced by a factor of up to 4×104 .

/pdf/an-ion-cooler-buncher-for-high-sensitivity-collinear-laser-ltqsu2tx6b.pdf

An ion cooler-buncher for high-sensitivity collinear laser spectroscopy at ISOLDE

Collinear laser spectroscopy was performed on the $^{80}\mathrm{Ga}$ isotope at ISOLDE, CERN. A low-lying isomeric state with a half-life much greater than $200$ ms was discovered. The nuclear spins and moments of the ground and isomeric states and the isomer shift are discussed. Probable spins and parities are assigned to both long-lived states (${3}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and ${6}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) deduced from a comparison of the measured moments to shell-model calculations.

/pdf/discovery-of-a-long-lived-low-lying-isomeric-state-in-ga-80-3o5cbb07fc.pdf

A. Jokinen

Papers

An ion cooler-buncher for high-sensitivity collinear laser spectroscopy at ISOLDE

Discovery of a long-lived low-lying isomeric state in Ga-80