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Collision induced dissociation and mass spectrometry with the TITAN Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass-Spectrometer

University of British Columbia

To better understand nuclear structure, high-precision mass spectrometry of radioactive nuclei is required. However, as the nuclei of interest move further away from stability, the half-lives and production yields drop. Furthermore, the cocktail beams are frequently contaminated with unwanted isobars and molecules which can obscure the species of interest and impede the measurement. To overcome these obstacles, the Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass-Spectrometer (MR-ToF-MS) was commissioned at TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN). The device can purify beams through the process of mass selective re-trapping and provide fast, precise, and high-sensitivity mass measurements. These two modes of operation can be used sequentially to conduct mass measurements of exceedingly contaminated beams. Furthermore, the technique of collision induced dissociation (CID) has been investigated and developed to allow for further suppression of molecular contamination. With CID, the molecular contamination can be suppressed by one to two orders of magnitude. This development was undertaken following a Ne experiment in which a large amount of molecular contamination was found. However, the measurement capabilities of the MR-ToF-MS was demonstrated during the mass measurement campaign of neutron-rich ²⁴-²⁶Ne in which relative uncertainties of approximately 10-⁷ were achieved. These measurements began to approach the "Island of Inversion" for the Ne isotope chain, and they further motivate the investigation of this region in the future, ultimately ending with the measurement of 31Ne.

Text

2019-08-22

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71414

Physics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/