Single-reference high-precision mass measurement with a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph at RIKEN, demonstrating high-precision mass measurements of short-lived nuclei like 8Li+ with a new analysis method, showing competitive performance with Penning traps.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph and a new analysis method enabling high-precision mass measurements using only 12C+ references.

Findings

Achieved accurate mass excess measurement of 8Li+

Demonstrated high speed and precision in online measurements

Showed potential for studying short-lived nuclei

Abstract

A multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrograph, competitive with Penning trap mass spectrometers, has been built at RIKEN. We have performed a first online mass measurement, using 8Li+ (T1/2 = 838 ms). A new analysis method has been realized, with which, using only 12C+ references, the mass excess of 8Li was accurately determined to be 20947.6(15)(34) keV (dm/m = 6.6 x 10-7). The speed, precision and accuracy of this first online measurement exemplifies the potential for using this new type of mass spectrograph for precision measurements of short-lived nuclei.