A Solid Xenon Catcher for Rare Isotope Laser Spectroscopy

Abstract

Solid xenon layers are proposed as an alternative to graphite catchers for collecting samples at on-line separators. The formation of solid xenon layers is described. Sample atoms of bismuth have been held for up to a day in such layers before being released as cold free atoms for laser spectroscopy measurement. An application to studying daughter nuclei produced by -decay is considered. It involves a two-stage process where daughter recoils are first accumulated in the xenon layer and subsequently released into flowing helium for laser-ionization and counting.

Progress in laser spectroscopy at radioactive ion beam facilities

“…The measurements on [40][41][42][43][44] Ar [166] represent an important extension to previous hyperfine structure and isotope shift measurements on this isotope chain [165]. This combined work covers both the upper half of the sd shell and the entire f 7/2 shell, which can now be combined with the earlier measurements across the Ca [168,221,222], Ti [170] and K [223,224] isotope chains.…”

“…Although the RIS method has a high selectivity, the presence of large isobaric contamination on the graphite catcher will reduce the sensitivity of the technique since a large β-source would effectively non-resonantly ionize the desorbed atoms. An alternative to a graphite catcher assembly using a solid xenon catcher has been demonstrated off-line at the University of Manchester [41].…”

Laser spectroscopy for nuclear structure physics

“…A possible alternative to the conventional graphite catcher used in the RIS-PLID technique has been proposed by Billowes at the University of Manchester [243]. Sample atoms of Bi were implanted into a solid layer of Xe formed on a Cu substrate connected to a 12 K cold head of a He cryopump.…”

Optical Excitation and Decay Dynamics of Ytterbium Atoms Embedded in a Solid Neon Matrix

“…Consequently, matrix isolation is not suitable for precision transition frequency measurements. Instead, the technique has potential for applications including studying rare isotopes [11], catching and detecting rare decay products [12], and testing fundamental symmetries [13,14]. The prospect of measuring the electron's electric dipole moment in a matrix has motivated a series of studies of alkali atoms embedded in solid helium, in which a long electronic spin relaxation time was observed [15], the optical detection of nonradiating atoms was realized [16], and lifetimes of the short-lived excited levels were measured [17].…”