Objective
The aim of this project is to create infrastructure for novel and precise experiments with exotic nuclides using ion and atom traps. The nuclei considered will be at the limit of particle stability, the so-called drip lines, and include also the heaviest elements. The drip-line nuclides and super-heavy elements can only be produced at accelerators. They are so difficult to make that only one nucleus at a time can be produced and studied. Trap systems will be developed to study the properties of these rare nuclides and of their decay. Novel technology will be developed to obtain maximal information from even a single radioactive ion and to observe from inside the trap the nuclear and atomic spectroscopic information. New for Europe is optical trapping of radioactive nuclides.
The various new trapping systems will allow one to search for physics beyond the Standard Model of fundamental interactions with unprecedented precision. The second year of the project saw the first atom trapping of radioactive Francium, the Ca atom trap has started to search for a single atom of 41Ca. The developments in ion trapping were considerable: A mass measurement on 11Li, which lives only 8.6 ms, was made with the milestone precision of 10-6. Cooling of He+ with Hydrogen, essential for manipulating 6He, was proven. The various systems built the first year are now being installed or have made their first measurements with radioactive beams.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
9747 AA GRONINGEN
Netherlands