Probing nuclear properties by resonant atomic collisions between electrons and ions

Nuclear physics experiments with ion storage rings

“…The beam-like reaction products were detected in coincidence with the recoil particles by the PIN diode detector [107] used also in the 20 Ne experiment. Figure 9: Low-energy DR spectrum of the radioisotope 234 Pa 88+ taken 5 min after injection [115]. The 234 Pa isomers have decayed predominantly by βemission.…”

“…A comparatively new approach to perform isotope shift (IS) and hyperfine splitting experiments of stable and artificially synthesised radioisotopes as well as lifetime measurements of long-lived nuclear isomeric states relies on the atomic resonant electron capture process of dielectronic recombination (DR) [39,111,112,113,114,115]. In DR, free electrons with matching kinetic energy are captured resonantly with simultaneous excitation of an already bound electron resulting in a doubly excited autoionizing atomic configuration.…”

“…A major breakthrough was achieved at the ESR with the first studies of DR on artificially in-flight synthesised radioisotopes such as 237 U 89+ and 234 Pa 88+ [39,114,115,120]. The latter isotope is a very interesting case since it possesses a low-energy isomeric level at 73.92 + x keV with a half-life of 1.17 min that decays predominantly by beta-emission [53].…”

“…The latter isotope is a very interesting case since it possesses a low-energy isomeric level at 73.92 + x keV with a half-life of 1.17 min that decays predominantly by beta-emission [53]. This condition renders 234 Pa 88+ an ideal candidate for pilot experiments on DR-IS experiments with nuclear isomers since the presence of the isomer can be independently monitored via counting of its decay daughters with a particle detector on the inside of the storage ring [114,115].…”

Dielectronic recombination experiments at the storage rings: From the present CSR to the future HIAF

“…In the last few years, the DR precision spectroscopy has been extended to the investigation of the hyperfine induced transition rates [7], the nuclear properties of the HCI by measuring the isotope shift [8][9][10] and hyperfine splitting [5]. Moreover, DR spectroscopy of uranium and protactinium radionuclides produced in-flight has been demonstrated for the first time at the ESR [9,11,12]. More details of the DR experiments at storage rings can be found in the review literatures [1][2][3]6] and the references cited therein.…”