Time-separated oscillatory fields for high-precision mass measurements on short-lived Al and Ca nuclides

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that using time-separated oscillatory fields (Ramsey's method) in Penning trap mass spectrometry significantly improves measurement speed and accuracy for short-lived Al and Ca isotopes, resolving previous data conflicts.

Contribution

The study introduces and validates the application of Ramsey's method for high-precision mass measurements of short-lived nuclides, achieving up to ten times faster results than conventional techniques.

Findings

Enhanced measurement speed with Ramsey's method

Resolved conflicting mass data for 26Al and 27Al

Confirmed previous mass values and theoretical corrections for 38Ca and 26Al m

Abstract

High-precision Penning trap mass measurements on the stable nuclide 27Al as well as on the short-lived radionuclides 26Al and 38,39Ca have been performed by use of radiofrequency excitation with time-separated oscillatory fields, i.e. Ramsey's method, as recently introduced for the excitation of the ion motion in a Penning trap, was applied. A comparison with the conventional method of a single continuous excitation demonstrates its advantage of up to ten times shorter measurements. The new mass values of 26,27Al clarify conflicting data in this specific mass region. In addition, the resulting mass values of the superallowed beta-emitter 38Ca as well as of the groundstate of the beta-emitter 26Al m confirm previous measurements and corresponding theoretical corrections of the ft-values.