Search

There is strong circumstantial evidence that certain heavy, unstable atomic nuclei are 'octupole deformed', that is, distorted into a pear shape. This contrasts with the more prevalent rugby-ball shape of nuclei with reflection-symmetric, quadrupole deformations. The elusive octupole deformed nuclei are of importance for nuclear structure theory, and also in searches for physics beyond the standard model; any measurable electric-dipole moment (a signature of the latter) is expected to be amplified in such nuclei. Here we determine electric octupole transition strengths (a direct measure of octupole correlations) for short-lived isotopes of radon and radium. Coulomb excitation experiments were performed using accelerated beams of heavy, radioactive ions. Our data on 220Rn and 224Ra show clear evidence for stronger octupole deformation in the latter. The results enable discrimination between differing theoretical approaches to octupole correlations, and help to constrain suitable candidates for experimental studies of atomic electric-dipole moments that might reveal extensions to the standard model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At ISOL (Isotope Separator On-Line) facilities, which utilize thick primary production targets, beams of neutron-rich iron isotopes are difficult to obtain due to the long extraction time of these isotopes out of the target matrix. At REX-ISOLDE, an exploratory experiment was carried out to investigate the possibility of producing a post-accelerated beam of neutron-rich iron isotopes by the in-trap decay of neutron-rich manganese isotopes, which are available at ISOLDE using the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS). This production mechanism was tested for the first time at REX-ISOLDE with an intense and short-lived beam of 61Mn isotopes. In this work, the proof of principle of this method is demonstrated, although the technical details of the trapping process are currently not well understood and are still under investigation. The first physics results on the Coulomb excitation of 61Mn and 61Fe are presented and compared to shell model calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]