Towards high-resolution laser ionization spectroscopy of the heaviest elements in supersonic gas jet expansion.
R FerrerA BarzakhB BastinRandolf BeerwerthM BlockP CreemersH GraweR de GrooteP DelahayeX FléchardS FranchooS FritzscheL P GaffneyL GhysW GinsC GranadosR HeinkeL HijaziM HuyseT KronYu KudryavtsevM LaatiaouiN LecesneM LoiseletF LuttonI D MooreY MartínezE MogilevskiyP NaubereitJ PiotS RaederSebastian RotheH SavajolsS SelsV SonnenscheinJ-C ThomasE TraykovC Van BeverenP Van den BerghP Van DuppenK WendtA ZadvornayaPublished in: Nature communications (2017)
Resonant laser ionization and spectroscopy are widely used techniques at radioactive ion beam facilities to produce pure beams of exotic nuclei and measure the shape, size, spin and electromagnetic multipole moments of these nuclei. However, in such measurements it is difficult to combine a high efficiency with a high spectral resolution. Here we demonstrate the on-line application of atomic laser ionization spectroscopy in a supersonic gas jet, a technique suited for high-precision studies of the ground- and isomeric-state properties of nuclei located at the extremes of stability. The technique is characterized in a measurement on actinium isotopes around the N=126 neutron shell closure. A significant improvement in the spectral resolution by more than one order of magnitude is achieved in these experiments without loss in efficiency.