Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy Experiment Research Articles

Voltage scanning and technical upgrades at the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy experiment

To optimize the performance of the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at CERN-ISOLDE, technical upgrades are continuously introduced, aiming to enhance its sensitivity, precision, stability, and efficiency. Recently, a voltage-scanning setup was developed and commissioned at CRIS, which improved the scanning speed by a factor of three as compared to the current laser-frequency scanning approach. This leads to faster measurements of the hyperfine structure for systems with high yields (more than a few thousand ions per second). Additionally, several beamline sections have been redesigned and manufactured, including a new field-ionization unit, an electrostatic bend with a larger deflection angle, and improved ion optics. The beamline upgrades are expected to yield an improvement of at least a factor of 5 in the signal-to-noise ratio by avoiding the use of high-power lasers (which yield non-resonantly produced ions) and providing time-of-flight separation between the resonant ions and the collisional background.

Laser spectroscopy of indium Rydberg atom bunches by electric field ionization

This work reports on the application of a novel electric field-ionization setup for high-resolution laser spectroscopy measurements on bunched fast atomic beams in a collinear geometry. In combination with multi-step resonant excitation to Rydberg states using pulsed lasers, the field ionization technique demonstrates increased sensitivity for isotope separation and measurement of atomic parameters over previous non-resonant laser ionization methods. The setup was tested at the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy experiment at ISOLDE-CERN to perform high-resolution measurements of transitions in the indium atom from the text {5s}^2text {5d},^2text {D}_{5/2} and text {5s}^2text {5d},^2text {D}_{3/2} states to text {5s}^2np ^2P and text {5s}^2ntext {f},^2F Rydberg states, up to a principal quantum number of n=72. The extracted Rydberg level energies were used to re-evaluate the ionization potential of the indium atom to be 46,670.107(4),hbox {cm}^{-1}. The nuclear magnetic dipole and nuclear electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants and level isotope shifts of the text {5s}^2text {5d},^2text {D}_{5/2} and text {5s}^2text {5d},^2text {D}_{3/2} states were determined for ^{113,115}In. The results are compared to calculations using relativistic coupled-cluster theory. A good agreement is found with the ionization potential and isotope shifts, while disagreement of hyperfine structure constants indicates an increased importance of electron correlations in these excited atomic states. With the aim of further increasing the detection sensitivity for measurements on exotic isotopes, a systematic study of the field-ionization arrangement implemented in the work was performed at the same time and an improved design was simulated and is presented. The improved design offers increased background suppression independent of the distance from field ionization to ion detection.

Resonance ionization schemes for high resolution and high efficiency studies of exotic nuclei at the CRIS experiment

This paper presents an overview of recent resonance ionization schemes used at the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) setup located at ISOLDE, CERN. The developments needed to reach high spectral resolution and efficiency will be discussed. Besides laser ionization efficiency and high resolving power, experiments on rare isotopes also require low-background conditions. Ongoing developments that aim to deal with beam-related sources of background are presented.

Decay-Assisted Laser Spectroscopy of Neutron-Deficient Francium

This paper reports on the hyperfine-structure and radioactive-decay studies of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes $^{202-206}$Fr performed with the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at the ISOLDE facility, CERN. The high resolution innate to collinear laser spectroscopy is combined with the high efficiency of ion detection to provide a highly-sensitive technique to probe the hyperfine structure of exotic isotopes. The technique of decay-assisted laser spectroscopy is presented, whereby the isomeric ion beam is deflected to a decay spectroscopy station for alpha-decay tagging of the hyperfine components. Here, we present the first hyperfine-structure measurements of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes $^{202-206}$Fr, in addition to the identification of the low-lying states of $^{202,204}$Fr performed at the CRIS experiment.

First results from the CRIS experiment

The ability to study rare isotopes with techniques such as mass spectrometry and laser spectroscopy is often prevented by low production rates and large isobaric contamination. This has necessitated the development of novel beam cleaning techniques that can efficiently isolate the isotope of interest. The Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at ISOLDE, achieves this by resonantly ionizing a bunched atom beam in a region of ultra high vacuum. This method is motivated by the need to measure the hyperfine structure and isotope shift at the extremes of isospin where typical production rates drop to 1 atom/s. The technique also offers the ability to purify an ion beam and even select long-lived isomeric states (> 1 ms) from the ground state, which can be subsequently studied by decay spectroscopy or mass spectrometry experiments. This paper will report on the successful commissioning of the CRIS beam line and the recent laser spectroscopy results and laser assisted nuclear decay spectroscopy on the neutron deficient francium isotopes.

Narrow linewidth operation of the RILIS titanium: Sapphire laser at ISOLDE/CERN

A narrow linewidth operating mode for the Ti:sapphire laser of the CERN ISOLDE Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) has been developed. This satisfies the laser requirements for the programme of in-source resonance ionization spectroscopy measurements and improves the selectivity for isomer separation using RILIS. A linewidth reduction from typically 10GHz down to 1GHz was achieved by the intra-cavity insertion of a second (thick) Fabry-Pérot etalon. Reliable operation during a laser scan was achieved through motorized control of the tilt angle of each etalon. A scanning, stabilization and mode cleaning procedure was developed and implemented in LabVIEW. The narrow linewidth operation was confirmed in a high resolution spectroscopy study of francium isotopes by the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy experiment. The resulting laser scans demonstrate the suitability of the laser, in terms of linewidth, spectral purity and stability for high resolution in-source spectroscopy and isomer selective ionization using the RILIS.