abstract

• We demonstrate a new technique to prepare an offline source of francium for trapping in a magneto-optical trap. Implanting a radioactive beam of 225Ac, t1/2 = 9.920(3) days, in a foil, allows use of the decay products, i.e. 221Fr, t1/2 = 288.0(4) s. 221Fr is ejected from the foil by the α decay of 225Ac. This technique is compatible with the online accumulation of a laser-cooled atomic francium sample for a series of planned parity non-conservation measurements at TRIUMF. We obtain a 34 %25 release efficiency for 221Fr from the recoil source based on particle detector measurements. We find that laser cooling operation with the source is 8%2b10-5 times less efficient than from a mass-separated ion beam of 221Fr in the current geometry. While the flux of this source is two to three orders of magnitude lower than typical francium beams from ISOL facilities, the source provides a longer-term supply of francium for offline studies. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.

authors

• Aubin S.
• Behr J.A.
• Collister R.
• Gwinner G.
• Gómez García Eduardo
• Heggen H.
• Lassen J.
• Orozco L.A.
• Pearson M.R.
• Raeder S.
• Tandecki M.
• Teigelhöfer A.
• Zhang J.

publication date

• 2014-01-01

funding provided via

• National Science Foundation, NSF: 1307536  Grant

published in

• Journal of Instrumentation  Journal

keywords

• fragment and isotope, separators incl. ISOL; Instrumentation for radioactive beams (fragmentation devices; ion and atom traps; isobar separators; Laser cooling; radioactive-beam ion sources); weak-beam diagnostics Atom lasers; Francium; Ion beams; Ion sources; Laser cooling; Laser diagnostics; Separators; Atom trap; fragment and isotope, separators incl. ISOL; Fragmentation devices; Radioactive beams; Weak beams; Radioactivity

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1088/1748-0221/9/10/P10013

start page

end page

volume

• 9

issue

• 10