Mainz 2017 – scientific programme

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MS: Fachverband Massenspektrometrie

MS 2: Precision Mass Spectrometry and Fundamental Applications II

MS 2.5: Talk

Monday, March 6, 2017, 18:15–18:30, RW 2

Recent results from the FRS Ion Catcher — •Emma Haettner and the FRS Ion Catcher Collaboration — GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH

The accelerator complex at GSI and in the future, FAIR, gives access to the study of short-lived nuclei. The properties, such as the mass, are difficult to predict with sufficient accuracy to e.g. identify the limits of nuclear stability or fully understand the nucleosynthesis in stars. Thus mass measurements are mandatory to improve nuclear models.

Many nuclei far from stability can be produced in fragmentation or fission reactions. For precision experiments with the FRS Ion Catcher, the nuclei are produced and separated in-flight, momentum-compressed, and slowed-down in the fragment separator (FRS) and subsequently thermalized in a cryogenic stopping cell. The ions are extracted and guided through a multi-purpose RFQ beamline followed by a multiple-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-ToF-MS) for mass measurements or separation. A mass resolving power in excess of 600,000, its speed and single-ion sensitivity makes the method ideal for experiments with rare short-lived nuclei.

Recent measurements with the FRS Ion Catcher demonstrate the feasibility of the experimental scheme; the access to rare short-lived nuclei, operation as an isobar/isomer separator and high precision mass measurements. The latter method of operation used also as a complementary method for unambiguous particle identification of nuclei separated in the FRS. A highlight is the first direct mass measurements of 213-Rn, 218-Rn and 217-At, all with a half-life below 40 ms.