Ion traps in nuclear physics—Recent results and achievements

Abstract

Ion traps offer a way to determine nuclear binding energies through atomic mass measurements with a high accuracy and they are routinely used to provide isotopically or even isomerically pure beams of short-living ions for post-trap decay spectroscopy experiments. In this review, different ion-trapping techniques and progresses in recent nuclear physics experiments employing low-energy ion traps are discussed. The main focus in this review is on the benefit of recent high accuracy mass measurements to solve some key problems in physics related to nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics as well as neutrinos. Also, several cases of decay spectroscopy experiments utilizing trap-purified ion samples are summarized.

Phase-Imaging Ion-Cyclotron-Resonance technique at the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap mass spectrometer

“…(1)), and in the worst case make a mass measure-ment impossible. A high resolving power is essential not only for mass measurements but also for state-selective decay spectroscopy (for details and examples, see the recent review [2]).…”

Recent experiments at the JYFLTRAP Penning trap

“…Since the last LASER meeting held in Poznan in May 2016, several publications have come out from JYFLTRAP experiments. The Q EC value of the superallowed β + emitter 42 Sc has been measured to be 6426.350 (53) keV [18], the isobaric multiplet mass equation studied for the quintet at A = 52 [19] and a general review on ion traps given in [3]. These were already discussed in Poznan.…”

“…Very high precision (≤ 1 keV/c 2 ) mass measurements are important for fundamental physics [1,2], such as for weak-interaction studies, testing the isospin symmetry or the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark mixing matrix. Mass measurements with a good precision of ≤ 10 keV/c 2 are also needed to study subtle changes in nuclear structure [2,3] or to provide accurate inputs for astrophysical reaction network calculations [4]. In this contribution, we review the recent activities at the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap mass spectrometer [5][6][7] located at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) facility [8,9] in the JYFL Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.…”

Magnetic field effect on the stability regions of a linear quadrupole

“…Linear quadrupole traps often consist of four symmetric cylindrical rods where each pair of opposite rods is connected to a radiofrequency (RF) field electrically; then a two‐dimensional (2‐D) quadrupole field forms between rods. The ion trajectory is oscillatory which is a property of the mass‐to‐charge ratio of a specific ion 3–6 …”