In-Trap Spectroscopy of Charge-Bred Radioactive Ions

Abstract

A novel in-trap decay spectroscopy facility has been developed and constructed for use with TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN). This apparatus consists of an open-access spectroscopy ion-trap, which is surrounded radially with up to seven low-energy planar Si(Li) detectors. The ion-trap environment allows for the detection of low-energy photons by providing backing-free storage of the radioactive ions, while guiding decay particles from the trap center via the strong (up to 6 T) magnetic field. Excellent ion confinement is also facilitated by the use of an intense electron beam which provides storage times of minutes or more without ion loss. These advantages, along with careful monitoring and control, provide a significant increase in sensitivity for the detection of X-rays from the electron-capture process. The design, development, and commissioning of this apparatus are presented and the future of the device and experimental technique are discussed.Keywords: in-trap decay spectroscopy, electron capture, beta-decay of highly-charged ions, X-ray detection, electron-beam ion trap, nuclear matrix elements, double beta decay

Statistical approaches to lifetime measurements with restricted observation times

“…Although the experimental techniques for lifetime measurements manifest great variety (see, e.g., Refs. [1][2][3][4][5]), probably a straightforward method in light of Eq. (2) would be to "reproduce" the density function with data and extract the lifetime.…”

High-precision QEC -value measurement of the superallowed β+ emitter Mg22 and an ab

“…The TITAN facility consists of four primary components: (i) A Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) linear Paul trap [27,28], (ii) a Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight (MR-ToF) isobar separator [29], iii) an Electron-Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) for generating Highly Charged Ions (HCIs) [30,31] and performing decay spectroscopy [32,33], and (iv) a 3.7 T, high-precision mass Measurement PEnning Trap (MPET) [34]. Following the delivery of the continuous A = 22 ISAC beam to TITAN, ions were injected into the RFQ where they were cooled using a He buffer gas.…”

Electroweak Decay Studies of Highly Charged Radioactive Ions with TITAN at TRIUMF

“…This typically occurs in cases where both the ground and first-excited states are J π = 0 + , since the E0 photon emission is forbidden. This is referred to as non-competitive 2γ decay, and has only been observed in 16 O [28], 40 Ca [32], and 90 Zr [32,33] (Figure 5). An upper-limit on the 2γ-decay branch in 98 Mo is also reported in Ref.…”

“…[16,17], respectively. For these experiments, charge states of q = 28 + and q = 22 + were used, corresponding to stripping electrons near the respective atomic N shells.…”