The on-line low temperature nuclear orientation facility NICOLE

Abstract

We review major experiments and results obtained by the on-line low temperature nuclear orientation method at the NICOLE facility at ISOLDE, CERN since the year 2000 and highlight their general physical impact. This versatile facility, providing a large degree of controlled nuclear polarization, was used for a long-standing study of magnetic moments at shell closures in the region Z=28, N=28-50 but also for dedicated studies in the deformed region around A∼180. Another physics program was conducted to test symmetry in the weak sector and constrain weak coupling beyond V-A. Those two programs were supported by careful measurements of the involved solid state physics parameters to attain the full sensitivity of the technique and provide interesting interdisciplinary results. Future plans for this facility include the challenging idea of measuring the beta-gamma-neutron angular distributions from polarized beta delayed neutron emitters, further test of fundamental symmetries and obtaining nuclear structure data used in medical applications. The facility will also continue to contribute to both the nuclear structure and fundamental symmetry test programs.

Nuclear spectroscopic techniques for studying biological systems at ISOLDE

“…All these methods are versatile but are restricted only to fragmentation facilities. Another technique is the low-temperature nuclear orientation (LTNO) that has been used in combination with NMR [90,91] but it cannot be applied to studies with liquids as it requires mK temperatures at the implantation site. Another approach under development is the polarisation via tilted foils that was used for β-NMR studies in measuring the nuclear magnetic moments [92,93].…”