Speaker
Description
High-precision mass measurements of radioactive isotopes play a key role in advancing our understanding of nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. Nuclear masses provide direct access to binding energies and are essential inputs for testing nuclear models and studying shell evolution far from stability. Accurate masses are indispensable for modeling nucleosynthesis pathways, such as the rapid neutron-capture (r-) process, where reaction rates and decay energies strongly depend on precise input [1]. Penning-trap mass spectrometry has established itself as a powerful technique for achieving the required precision.
The IGISOL (Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line) facility [2] in Jyväskylä provides a versatile approach to produce exotic nuclei. Reaction products from fusion, fission, or multi-nucleon transfer reactions are stopped in a gas cell, extracted, bunched and delivered to various experimental setups. The JYFLTRAP double Penning-trap mass spectrometer [3], located downstream of IGISOL, is dedicated to high-precision mass measurements. It combines a purification trap for isobaric cleaning with a precision trap where cyclotron frequencies are measured using time-of-flight ion-cyclotron-resonance [4] and phase-imaging techniques [5]. In this contribution, I present recent developments and measurements of the Penning trap setup such as its recommissioning following a quench of the superconducting magnet and results of double-beta decay studies in the A = 150 region.
[1] M. Mumpower, et al., Prog. in Part. and Nucl. Phys. 86, 86–126 (2016).
[2] I.D. Moore et al., Nucl. Inst. Meth. Phys. Res. B 317 (2013) 208.
[3] T. Eronen et al., European Physical Journal A 48, 46 (2012).
[4] König et al., Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Process. 142, 95 (1995).
[5] D.A. Nesterenko et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 54, 154 (2018).