Laser Assisted Nuclear Decay Spectroscopy A New Method for Studying Neutron-Deficient Francium Isotopes /

• Main Author: Lynch, Kara Marie (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2015.
• Series: Springer Theses, Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research,
• Subjects: Physics.; Nuclear physics.; Heavy ions.; Hadrons.; Spectroscopy.; Microscopy.; Nuclear Physics, Heavy Ions, Hadrons.; Spectroscopy and Microscopy.
• Physical Description: XIII, 131 p. 95 illus., 46 illus. in color. online resource.
• ISBN: 9783319071121
• ISSN: 2190-5053

This work details an application of collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy for the separation of short-lived isomeric states and their subsequent study with decay spectroscopy. It reports the successful construction of a novel decay spectroscopy apparatus that can operate at pressures below 1 x 10^-9 mbar. The method is demonstrated by separating the nuclear ground and isomeric states of 204Fr and performing alpha-decay spectroscopy. An equivalent mass spectrometer would require 4.6 million times as much resolution to achieve the same result. This work unambiguously confirms the existence of a second isomeric state in 204Fr. The author also demonstrates the effectiveness of this method for laser spectroscopy and identification of hyperfine-structure components with energy tagging. This method was successfully used in 202Fr to identify ground and isomeric states. The measurement of 202Fr reported in this thesis demonstrates a factor of 100 improvement in sensitivity compared to state-of-the-art fluorescence techniques. The work reported in this thesis won the author the IOP Nuclear Physics Group Early Career Prize.