Nuclear spectroscopy using lasers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory: experiments with stable (past) and radioactive (future) tandem beams

Abstract

Fast beam collinear laser spectroscopy has yielded information on nuclear structure on the long chain of neutron deficient Tl isotopes (186 ≤ A ≤ 205) using heavy ion fusion evaporation reactions to produce Tl-ion beams which for the most neutron deficient isotope were only about 10 4/s. The new radioactive heavy ion beam facility projected to be completed in 1995 requires even higher sensitivities at the few 10 nuclei/s level. Two examples to realize such ultra-sensitive measurements employing laser techniques are described. They are: field-ionization spectroscopy in a fast beam and stored ion spectroscopy in a novel linear combined trap.