Alpha spectroscopy of purified beams of exotic nuclei at the FRS Ion Catcher

The FRS Ion Catcher (FRS-IC) is located at the final focal plane of the Fragment Separator FRS at GSI. The FRS-IC setup is well known for high-precision experiments with stopped exotic nuclei produced by projectile fragmentation and fission. The facility consists of the cryogenic gas-filled stopping cell (CSC), an RFQ-based beamline (DISTRICT), and a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). This paper illustrates how alpha spectroscopy performed at this facility has emerged as a promising tool to unveil the nuclear structure of exotic nuclei, i.e., half-live and decay energy measurements. First studies of that kind were performed on the decay chains of 218 Rn, 219 Rn, 221 Ac, 220 Fr, and 223,224 Th produced by projectile fragmentation of 238 U. The α decay energy measurements performed and the deduced Q α values confirm the known maximum at N=128 and the values of Q α at N = 132 − 133 follow the predicted increasing in Q α values compared to the values for At isotopes at the same neutron number N. Further, the production rate ratio of the isomer to the ground state of 211 Po was measured. It allows an estimate of the angular momentum distribution of 211 Po fragments following fragmentation of 238 U in a 9 Be target at relativistic energies. In addition, the potential of mass-selected decay spectroscopy behind the MR-TOF-MS was demonstrated with short-lived 215 Po ions ( t 1 / 2 = 1.78 ms). This demonstrates that the FRS-IC is a reliable setup for α spectroscopy studies and related nuclear structure studies.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nuclear Physics A
Published
2024-10-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2024.122967
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Nuclear physics research studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.32

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Alpha spectroscopy of purified beams of exotic nuclei at the FRS Ion Catcher

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Alpha spectroscopy of purified beams of exotic nuclei at the FRS Ion Catcher

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article en
2 citations

Abstract

The FRS Ion Catcher (FRS-IC) is located at the final focal plane of the Fragment Separator FRS at GSI. The FRS-IC setup is well known for high-precision experiments with stopped exotic nuclei produced by projectile fragmentation and fission. The facility consists of the cryogenic gas-filled stopping cell (CSC), an RFQ-based beamline (DISTRICT), and a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS). This paper illustrates how alpha spectroscopy performed at this facility has emerged as a promising tool to unveil the nuclear structure of exotic nuclei, i.e., half-live and decay energy measurements. First studies of that kind were performed on the decay chains of 218 Rn, 219 Rn, 221 Ac, 220 Fr, and 223,224 Th produced by projectile fragmentation of 238 U. The α decay energy measurements performed and the deduced Q α values confirm the known maximum at N=128 and the values of Q α at N = 132 − 133 follow the predicted increasing in Q α values compared to the values for At isotopes at the same neutron number N. Further, the production rate ratio of the isomer to the ground state of 211 Po was measured. It allows an estimate of the angular momentum distribution of 211 Po fragments following fragmentation of 238 U in a 9 Be target at relativistic energies. In addition, the potential of mass-selected decay spectroscopy behind the MR-TOF-MS was demonstrated with short-lived 215 Po ions ( t 1 / 2 = 1.78 ms). This demonstrates that the FRS-IC is a reliable setup for α spectroscopy studies and related nuclear structure studies.

Nuclear Physics AVol. 1053
GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (DE), Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), University of Jyväskylä (FI), University of Edinburgh (GB)
Justus Liebig Universität Gießen, Helmholtz Graduate School for Hadron and Ion Research, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Nuclear physics research studies
1.32
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