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Towards nuclear excitation via electron capture in an electron beam ion trap
Ringuette, Jon
Ringuette, Jon
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2022
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Nuclear Excitation via Electron Capture (NEEC) is the inverse process of internal electron conversion, where a free electron is captured into an atomic vacancy simultaneously exciting the nucleus to a higher-energy state. This process occurs naturally in hot astrophysical environments, and can excite nuclei in these isomeric states to shorter-lived states that would decay at a much faster rate than under terrestrial conditions, thus affecting reaction flows or survival rate of nuclei. Since NEEC is a resonant process, experimental access in the lab to study these cases requires strong atomic charge-state control over the sample, as well as careful selection and preparation of nuclear states that may be compatible with efficient electron recombination. Using an open-geometry electron beam ion trap (EBIT) in the TITAN experiment at the TRIUMF facility we are able to perform these studies with a high level of control and sensitivity. In this thesis a method of triggering NEEC in $^{129m}$Sb is discussed along with the development of the experimental hardware to perform the measurements.
This thesis also presents new high-precision mass measurements for $^{33}$Mg, $^{34}$Mg, $^{35}$Mg, and $^{33}$Na. These mass measurements performed using the TITAN Multi-Reflection Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometer (MR-TOF-MS) to demonstrate the high resolving power of this instrument along with its potential use for reducing contamination in the rare isotope beam prior to injection into the EBIT.
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