Improvements to TITAN’s mass measurement and decay spectroscopy capabilities

Abstract

The study of nuclei farther from the valley of β-stability than ever before goes hand-in-hand with shorter-lived nuclei produced in smaller abundances than their less exotic counterparts. The measurement, to high precision, of nuclear masses therefore requires innovations in technique in order to keep up. TRIUMF’s Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN) facility deploys three ion traps, with a fourth in the commissioning phase, to perform and support Penning trap mass spectrometry and in-trap decay spectroscopy on some of the shortest-lived nuclei ever studied. We report on recent advances and updates to the TITAN facility since the 2012 EMIS conference.TITAN’s charge breeding capabilities have been improved and in-trap decay spectroscopy can be performed in TITAN’s Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT). Higher charge states can improve the precision of mass measurements, reduce the beam-time requirements for a given measurement, improve beam purity, and open the door to access isotopes not available from the ISOL method via in-trap decay and recapture. This was recently demonstrated during TITAN’s mass measurement of 30Al. The EBIT’s decay spectroscopy setup was commissioned with a successful branching ratio and half-life measurement of 124Cs. Charge breeding in the EBIT increases the energy spread of the ion bunch sent to the Penning trap for mass measurement, so a new Cooler PEnning Trap (CPET), which aims to cool highly charged ions with an electron plasma, is undergoing offline commissioning. Already CPET has demonstrated the trapping and self-cooling of a room-temperature electron plasma that was stored for several minutes. A new detector has been installed inside the CPET magnetic field which will allow for in-magnet charged particle detection.